Castle’s contents set to woo buyers

FANCY a bargain?

Then try out the contents of this ancient castle for size.

Almost 800 lots from the Mallow Castle Collection in Cork will be auctioned tomorrow in a sale that is expected to generate up to €800,000.

The collection includes important portraits, paintings, tapestries, prints, Irish and European furniture, silver, books, sculptures, garden furniture and even two classic cars.

There is even an impressive set of fossilised Irish elk antlers which have been guided at between €10,000 and €15,000.

“There’s still money out there,” said auctioneer Fonsie Mealy, of Kilkenny-based Mealy’s, which is overseeing the auction.

“Anything that’s unusual or good will sell. There are several very rare pieces in this collection, and people are well aware that they won’t get another chance to pick up such pieces.”

The collection is being auctioned on the instructions of the castle’s last owner, Judith McGinn. She has relocated to the US with her two sons following the death of her husband in 2008.

Mr Mealy said Ms McGinn took some treasured pieces with her to the US but had no option but to sell the remainder of the collection.

Its important archive has already been sold to UCC.

The original castle was built in about 1598, either by Sir Thomas Norris or his daughter, who married into the Jephson family.

It was burnt down by the Jacobites in 1689 and fell into ruin.

Rather than rebuild the burned castle, the Jephsons created a mansion house — the “new” Mallow Castle. It was declared a National Monument in 1928.

It boasts 12 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, eight reception rooms, a library, music room, billiard room, drawing room and portrait room. It also has storerooms, wine cellars and several garages.

Brigadier Maurice Denham Jephson and his wife Eileen, who owned the castle for several years, were killed in the Tuskar Rock air crash in March 1968.

The castle then passed to Commander Maurice Christian Mounteney Jephson, who ended his family’s 400-year link to the property when he sold it in 1984 to American philanthropists Michael and Judy McGinn.

Cork County Council has now bought the property for €1.7 million and plans to use it as a tourism and heritage attraction.

The deal, which was announced just before Christmas, was a remarkable coup because the property was placed on the market five years ago with a €7m price tag.

Viewing of the collection will continue at the estate today from 10am to 5.30pm.

The auction will begin at the Hibernian Hotel in Mallow tomorrow at 10.30am.

Under the hammer

* A pair of enormous fossilised Irish elk horns and skull — a magnificent specimen of Cervus Giganteus Hibernicus. Guide: €10,000 to €15,000.

* A 1966 MGB GT soft top racer, with spoked chrome wheels and about 58,000 miles on the clock. Guide: €7,000 to €9,000.

* A life-size carved marble head, entitled Sylphide, by sculptor Seamus Murphy, dated 1943. The model for the piece was Maighread Ní hUiginn, who later became the sculptor’s wife. Guide: €3,500 to €5,000.

* An 18th century Beauvais tapestry, Gallic Wrath, which depicts the Massacre of the Armagnacs by the Burgundians. Guide: €8,000 to €12,000.

* A painting by Nathanial Grogan of Bartholomew O’Sullivan’s Paper Manufactory, Ironworks and Foundry at Beechmount, near Dripsey. Guide: €10,000 to €15,000.

* A large carved giltwood settee, from the Regency period, with a reeded back applied with elaborate carved rail and deep buttoned back. Guide: €4,000 to €6,000.

* An unframed painting by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson of Cork Harbour with frigates and other shipping. Guide: €3,000 to €4,000.

* A painting by Patrick Hennessy entitled Horses Grazing at James’s Fort, Kinsale, Co Cork. It came from the collection of Lady Ursula Vernon (nee Grosvenor, daughter of the second Duke of Westminster) of Bruree House, Co Limerick. The artist Patrick Hennessy was a personal friend of hers. Guide: €9,000 to €12,000.