How Penny Dreadful is an inspiration for auctioneers

TV show’s attention to detail is an auctioneering delight, says Des O’Sullivan.

All the props used in the award-winning TV series Penny Dreadful will come up at a three-day sale at Punchestown Race Course on September 13, 14 and 15.

Ashgrove Auctioneers of Co Laois will offer around 4,000 lots and in a live and online auction that is sure to draw global interest.

Oscar-winner Sam Mendes was one of the producers of Penny Dreadful which resurrected classic literary characters like Dr Frankenstein and Dorian Gray in a show set in Victorian London.

No expense was spared in the making of the series filmed at Ardmore Studios in Bray. Much of what is on offer are genuine antique lots, some, like the outdoor Victorian street lighting, is reproduction.

There is Irish Georgian furniture, taxidermy including a life-size gazelle and a bear cub, a horse-drawn carriage, a rowing boat, a ceiling light in the form of a skull, life-sized skeletons and hall lanterns in a sale which is brimful of curiosity and interest.

The cast included Billie Piper, Josh Hartnett, Tim Dalton, Eva Greene and Reeve Carney.