A huge choice of art and antiques awaits bidders as auctioneers set out their stalls for the Christmas season

THOUSANDS OF paintings and antiques go under the hammer over the next few days in what is the busiest week of the year in Irish salerooms.

With prices down significantly from their Celtic Tiger peak, auctioneers claim there is good value. James O’Halloran, managing director of fine art auctioneers Adam’s, believes “there has never been a better time to buy antique furniture at auction” and claims that estimates on some items “make IKEA look expensive”.

If, in the manner of the Dowager Countess of Grantham, you’re wondering: “What, precisely, is IKEA?” then you’re unlikely to need furniture. But anyone looking for a classy alternative to flat-pack Swedish bookshelves might just find a bargain.

Prices for Irish art are also down significantly since the boom. Whyte’s, which is holding an important art auction, claims there is “value for money – it’s a buyer’s market”; while de Veres says its sale is “packed with serious art that is competitively estimated”. Auctioneers say many bidders are looking for safe investments at a time of falling share prices and jitters over the euro.

More immediately, anyone looking for a Christmas gift with a difference – from a tiger skin rug to Georgian tableware, a Victorian oil painting or modern Irish sculpture – will find plenty to choose from. Here’s a brief overview of some of the major sales taking place over the next few days.

1 Dolan's Art Auction,tomorrow from 12.30pm at the Radisson St Helen's Hotel, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.

Most lots have no reserves, so the highest bid gets these items.

The sale includes over 250 paintings – including 43 from the west Cork studio of John Kingerlee – by artists including Arthur K Maderson, Ivan Sutton, John Morris, Mark O’Neill, Graham Knuttel, David Ffrench le Roy, Mat Grogan, Norman Teeling, and Thelma Mansfield. There is also a small selection of sculpture.

* Highlights Badgers Undergroundby John Shinnors €14,000-€18,000; Piebald Dealby Mark O'Neill €3,300-€3,600; The Crossroads, Tallow Horse Fairby Arthur K Maderson, €3,000-€4,000; Rooster(a 36-inch high, welded steel painted sculpture) by John Behan €2,000-€3,000; and The Pantry Shelfby David Ffrench Le Roy €1,400-€1,800.

* Hidden gem Snow Scene, Enniscorthy, Jan '52',a watercolour measuring 7 by 11 inches by Tony O'Malley being sold by a vendor whose mother befriended the late artist when he worked for the Munster and Leinster Bank in Co Wexford during the early 1950s. Estimate: €800-€1,000.

2 Adam's Fine and Decorative Arts Auctionon Monday, November 28th from 10.30am at 26 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.

This auction has over 650 lots with a selection of antique furnishings from dining suites to bookcases, display cabinets to couches and a lot in-between.

Viewing takes place today and tomorrow from 11am-5pm.

Among the quirkier items are a plaster bust of Daniel O’Connell by Richard Barter (€2,000-€4,000) and a pre-first World War tortoiseshell and silver-mounted dressing table set, €200-€300.

* HighlightsMid-Georgian mahogany bracket clock by London clockmaker, Anthony Marsh, €4,000-€5,000; Italian 19th century, neo-classical, white painted, gilded and marbleised mantel clock from the collection of the late senator Edward McGuire €1,000-€1,500; mahogany breakfront four-door bookcase €3,000-€5,000; Victorian walnut chaise longue €500-€800; set of six early 19th century mahogany dining chairs €500-€800; and an oak slope-front writing box €80-€120.

* Hiddengem Victorian long-nose timber golf club signed "F.H.Ayres", €100-€200 – the perfect Christmas gift for a golfer.

3 Whyte'sExceptional Irish Art sale on Monday, November 28th from 6.30pm at the RDS, Clyde Halls, Anglesea Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Over 220 lots with some of the major names in Irish art, including paintings by Paul Henry, Sir John Lavery, Jack B Yeats and Sean Keating as well as work by contemporary artists.

Rare watercolours of Dublin’s Baggot Street, Killarney, Co Kerry and of Paris, purchased by the current owner from Harry Kernoff at his studio in 13 Stamer Street, Dublin in the 1970s, are described by Whyte’s as “minutely detailed records of lost streetscapes from the artist’s travels in the 1930s and 1940s . . . keenly estimated at between €1,500 and €4,500”.

Scenes include forgotten shop fronts of places like Cronin’s, off Baggot street; Moriarty’s Drapers and the Handy Shop in Killarney; houses on Foynes Island, Limerick; and various locations in the French capital.

* Highlights The Street In Shadow,1932, by Jack B Yeats, €50,000-€70,000, shows the artist accompanied by his wife, Cottie, standing on O'Connell Street in the shade of the GPO; Altan Lough, Donegal or Lake of the Hillock by Paul Henry €40,000-€50,000 ; Irish Free State Bacon, 1928, by Seán Keating, €15,000-€20,000 is the original painting for an advertising poster commissioned by the British Empire Marketing Board to promote Irish food produce in Britain.

* Hidden gem The Return From The Seal-Hunt, 1881, by William H Bartlett, €8,000-€12,000, depicts seal fishing in the west of Ireland.

4 Morgan O'DriscollIrish Art Sale on Monday, November 28th from 6.30pm at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork.

Almost 300 lots of affordable art with many estimates below €1,000. Artists include Brian Ballard, Mark O’Neill, Frank Egginton, Kenneth Webb and Markey Robinson.

* Highlights Three Figures at Nightby Markey Robinson €7,000-€9,000; Le Petit Café, Saint-Paul-de-Venceby Mark O'Neill €5,000-€7,000 ; Still Life with Flowers and Paletteby Gladys Maccabe €3,500-€4,500; Portrait of Roy Keaneby Frank Sanquest €1,000-€1,500 ; Alfresco, Baltimoreby Anne Marie McInerney €300-€400; Theatreby Marie Carroll €300-€400.

* Hidden gem Art Exhibition(gouache) by Aloysius O'Kelly €1,000-€1,500.

5 De Veres Irish Art Auctionon Tuesday, November 29th from 6pm at the D4Berkeley Hotel, Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4.

This sale features 130 lots which managing director John de Vere White describes as “packed with serious art that is competitively estimated”.

There’s work by artists including Paul Henry, Charles Brady, Sean McSweeney, Tony O’Malley, Hughie O’Donoghue and Camille Souter, George Campbell, William Conor, Daniel O’Neill, Gerard Dillon and Frank McKelvey.

A sculpture section features pieces by Conor Fallon, Edward Delaney, Patrick O’Reilly and John Behan. Horse by Conor Fallon (€7,000-€10,000) is a steel sculpture by the artist best-known for the three winged horses outside Independent Newspapers’ printing press on the Naas Road – a familiar sight for commuters on the N7.

* Highlights Reflections Across The Bogby Paul Henry €70,000-€100,000 (sold 60 years ago for £60); August Landscape, Ballymoteby Colin Middleton €40,000-€60,000; The Past in the Presentby Gerard Dillon €25,000-€35,000; Farmyard, County Antrimby Frank McKelvey €14,000-€18,000; Irish Inscape, Gothic, Jerpoint Abbeyby Tony O'Malley €10,000-€15,000; and Before the Curtain Risesby William Conor €8,000-€12,00.

* Hidden gem The Boatyard(watercolour) by May Guinness €300-€500.

6 Sheppard's Irish Auction House, Dublin and Provincial Art and Antiques Auctionin Durrow, Co Laois next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday daily from 10.30am.

A three-day sale in a pleasant Georgian village about 90 minutes from Dublin via the M8 features almost 2,000 lots. Viewing begins this afternoon.

Tuesday and Wednesday are devoted to furniture, silver and fine art while Thursday is centred on Asian art, including a wide selection of Chinese porcelain, carved horn, ivory and ebony figures.

* Highlights Feeding the Pet Raven(oil-on-canvas) by Theodor Kleehaas €5,000- €7,000; important 19th century Irish profusely carved mahogany hall table €15,000- €25,000; pair of Regency scallop-backed hall chairs by Gillows €1,500-€2,500; pair of Regency Cork-made pier cabinets €8,000-€12,000; pair of Georgian silver sauceboats made in Dublin by John Lloyd in 1770 weighing 1,332 grams €8,000-€12,000; a Chinese Qing Dynasty double-gourd vase with six character mark (provenance Granston Manor, Co Laois) €20,000-€30,000; tiger skin rug €800-€1,200; and a mink coat €400-€600.

* Hidden gemViennese tooled-leather covered and monogrammed presentation box with original manuscript – dated 1892 – addressed to Count Eduard Joseph Graf von Taaffe (1833-1895), an Austrian government minister and also 11th Viscount Taaffe in the peerage of Ireland. He was descended from the late 17th century Catholic Irish elite who fled to continental Europe and who are commonly called The Wild Geese. This lot is estimated at €500-€800.