Patrick Delany is on a mission. His eyes alight on small pieces of antique furniture, rare and unusual ornamental or functional items – such as an ornate gong on a wooden stand – most of which originated in historical Irish country houses.
Delany runs an antiques shop in Cambridge, New Zealand, and he returns to Ireland every year for the Dublin Horse Show, which is on at the RDS in Ballsbridge until Sunday, August 10th.
When I meet him, on August 4th, he is perusing the stalls at the Fine Art and Antiques Fair at the County Arms Hotel in Birr, Co Offaly.
“I buy for myself and then sell what I don’t like in the shop,” says Delany. He ends up paying €160 for the gong, knocked down from €195 by Louis Walsh, who runs Treasures Antiques and Fine Art store in Athlone, Co Westmeath.
RM Block
Bargaining with the dealers is all part of the fun at regional antique fairs, which are enjoying a resurgence of interest. More than 1,100 people come through the doors into the large function room at the Birr hotel. People of all ages can be seen searching for antique furniture, paintings, rugs, chinaware and ornaments. Sellers of coins and bank notes as well as traders in militaria and vintage wines are among the 26 dealers at the fair.
Walsh is a veteran of such events, which offer the antique dealer and his son Vernon a wider shop window and sales outlet for their eclectic range; this includes paintings, jewellery, pub and grocery-shop advertising signage, silver and antique furniture.
“We sell a kaleidoscope of antiques,” says Walsh, who buys from private owners and sources items in Belgium, Germany and France. “All the antique dealers used to buy at the big antique fairs in Britain but the tariffs that came with Brexit has made it too expensive for us.”
Hugo Greene, another regular at the annual antiques fair that is held as part of Birr Vintage Week, has a striking selection of Beswick ornaments on his stand. Alongside individual bovine pieces (€95 each), there is a hunting group of two riders on horses, a pack of nine hounds and a fox for €650. Although, he says, ornaments are less popular nowadays, specialised ornaments are still of interest.
Beswick pottery, chiefly known for high-quality porcelain figures, was founded in 1894 by James Wright Beswick and his sons, John and Gilbert, in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It was sold to Royal Doulton in 1969 and closed in 2002. A rare Beswick shire horse sold at Potteries auction in Stoke-on-Trent in November 2022 for a record-breaking £11,300 (€12,997 currently).
Greene, who used to run Greene’s Antique shop in Drogheda, Co Louth, also has a fine display of small tables at his stall. “Brown furniture has never been so cheap,” he says, pointing to a nest of three tables for €195.
Antiques dealers and auctioneers agree that small pieces of antique furniture represents good value for people looking for an alternative to ubiquitous flat-pack furniture. “The younger generation don’t want the big furniture that used to pass from generation to generation, but high quality and rare pieces will always sell, as will mid-century-modern furniture,” says Walsh.
He bemoans the demise of traditional wedding presents, remembering the era when 21-piece sets of china and canteens of cutlery were popular. “People just give money as wedding gifts now,” he says.
Norman Allison from Annamoe Antiques in Co Wicklow has a wide range of Persian and Turkish rugs at his corner stall. “I sell about 70 per cent rugs and 30 per cent textiles. They are all handwoven, vintage or antique,” he says. Seamus Heffernan, from Cashel, Co Tipperary, pays €550 for a silk on cotton Persian rug for his sittingroom. “I go to most of the antique fairs and I buy what I like,” he says, content with his purchase.
Allison also has a table of eye-catching Asian and Middle Eastern pieces. The highly ornate antique silver Ottoman Empire wedding mirror stands out from among them.
Veteran traders say the clientele at antique fairs has changed somewhat in recent years, with fewer American visitors and more locals than in previous decades. On the day we visit, most of the customers are from Ireland, with intergenerational family groups and couples of all ages in the majority.
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Richard Walsh, from Galway, deals in coins, bank notes and jewellery. “People are going for quality now rather than quantity,” he says. Walsh sells at between eight and 10 antique fairs each year in Ireland, three specialist coin fairs at the RDS and a couple of international fairs in the Netherlands and Germany.
European buyers prefer “raw” notes and coins – ie ones that you can handle before you buy them – while American and Asian customers tend to opt for “slabbed” coins and notes. “The latter are cased in sealed plastic and have been independently checked and graded,” he says.
Cherylann Erkelens, psitsvintage.co.uk owner and Co Antrim jewellery dealer, is at the Birr fair for the first time. She says she has already met many of the dealers and customers at other fairs around the country. “Buyers are willing to travel to these fairs. I’ve seen people here that have been at fairs in Cork, Dún Laoghaire, Gorey and Limerick,” she says, adding that her best sellers are gold and silver rings, gold and silver pendants and vintage lockets.
Vintageireland.eu; antiquesandartireland.com
What did it sell for?
Pitch pine refectory-style table
Estimate: €700-€800
Hammer price: €1,250
Auction house: Victor Mitchell, Roscrea
Persian pattern floor rug
Estimate: €750-€1,200
Hammer price: €1,500
Auction house: Victor Mitchell
Pharmacy cabinet
Estimate: €1,200-€1,500
Hammer price: €2,300
Auction house: Victor Mitchell
Regency ‘coronation’ chair
Estimate: €100-€150
Hammer price: €850
Auction house: Victor Mitchell
