Antique watchers eye up giant Irish elk antlers and marrow scoop

A PAIR of giant Irish elk antlers from the collection of the artist Sir Sidney Nolan comes up at Bonham's sporting sale in London on May 1.

Nolan's stylised depictions of Ned Kelly, the wild colonial boy, are an icon of Australian art. Born in 1917 he was a fifth-generation Australian of Irish descent and moved to live in London in 1951.

He died there in 1992. The Megaloceros giganteus antlers come with 18 points, skull and some restorations. They are 224cm (88 inches) wide.

Antlers from the extinct species have long been a feature of Irish and Scottish baronial halls. These ones are estimated at £26,000-£30,000.

What was possibly a world record price for a piece of Kinsale flatware was scored at auction at Lawrences sale of silver and vertu at Crewkerne in Somerset, England, on Tuesday.

Marrow scoop.

A c1730 marrow scoop by William and/or Joseph Wall Kinsale sold for £8,000 at hammer over an estimate of £2,500-£3,500.

The scoop has an engraved crest below another crest and a Baron’s coronet.