THERE WAS little evidence of economic gloom at a two-day sale of country house antiques which ended in Co Kilkenny last night.
Auctioneer Philip Sheppard said “over 95 per cent of lots sold” at Kilmurry House near Thomastown as Irish and international buyers bid for pictures, furniture, ceramics, Persian rugs and chandeliers.
A local woman, perusing the glossy, 130-page catalogue that also featured traditional “relics of auld dacency” – from riding boots to Edwardian jigsaw puzzles – observed: “It’s nice to see how the other half lives.”
The contents of Kilmurry House were sold by Sheppards of Durrow for banker John Casey and his wife Margaret. The couple recently sold the nine-bedroom, 1,245sq m (13,400sq ft) Georgian house on 20 acres for an estimated €2.5 million – three years after putting it up for sale in 2007 at a price of €4 million.
Yesterday they watched as buyers flocked to a marquee on the lawn where even the family silver went under the hammer.
Among the items auctioned was a watercolour painting of the house and gardens by a former resident, artist Mildred Anne Butler, which fetched €10,400.
But the item that attracted most attention – from as far away as California and South Korea – was parked on the gravel driveway in front of the house.
Lot 1,244, was described simply as a “Sunbeam Alpine”. After some very intense bidding, the hammer came down at €9,000. The bid was made by telephone by a buyer who wished to remain anonymous. Including auctioneer’s fees, the 44-year-old car cost its new owner €10,633.
Originally imported to Ireland in 1966, the "exact double of the first James Bond car" is reputedly much sought after by collectors of classic cars. The Sunbeam Alpine Series II model, in a similar shade of lake blue, was driven by Sean Connery in the first on-screen appearance of secret agent 007 in the film Dr No.
The original car was reputedly borrowed from its owner in Jamaica, where scenes were filmed.
Mr Casey acquired the car 11 years ago from Crosbie’s Garage on Dublin’s Lad Lane. He said it had originally belonged to a GP in Longford who had registered the car in November 1966.
The convertible has 64,422 miles on the clock and has been “adapted to run on unleaded petrol”.
The Sunbeam Alpine was manufactured by the Rootes Group, a British carmaker also known for marques such as Hillman, Humber and Singer.
Production ceased in the late 1960s when the company was taken over by the American Chrysler group. Rootes produced 19,956 models of the Sunbeam Alpine Series II between 1960 and 1963, which were sold worldwide.
It is not known how many survive.