MYSTERY SURROUNDS the fate of some of Ireland’s most important “family silver” after it was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer in London on Thursday night.
The Leinster Dinner Service – which once adorned the dining table at Leinster House on Kildare Street – made £1.7 million (€2.1 million) at a Christie’s auction.
The 18th-century dinner service, made by craftsmen in London for the Dukes of Leinster, contains over 5,200 ounces of silver and was described as “the grandest and the most complete surviving aristocratic service”.
The lavish Rococo-style tableware, which includes 70 dinner-plates, 11 salvers and an elaborate epergne (table centrepiece), was also used by the ducal FitzGerald family at their country residence, Carton House in Co Kildare.
But the family’s fortunes gradually declined. Leinster House was sold to the Royal Dublin Society in 1815 and, a century later, was acquired by the State to house both the Dáil and Seanad.
The silver passed down through the family but was eventually sold off in 1918 by Lord Edward FitzGerald to pay huge gambling debts. The Leinster Dinner Service was then acquired by a private collector and has since changed hands at least twice.
The unnamed vendor was simply described as “a gentleman”. Christie’s said the sale achieved “a world record price for an English [made] dinner service sold at auction” and the buyer wished to remain “completely anonymous”.
A spokeswoman for the auctioneers declined to name even the country from which the winning bid had been made but said “there was interest from all over the world including Ireland”.
