Antiques: From a sword to crystal chandeliers and a dictionary

Des O'Sullivan previews the diverse items that will spark interest among collectors

This 19th century giltwood and gesso mirror is at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin.

Robert Erskine Childers' naval officer's sword at Mullen's Collector's Cabinet sale.

WITHIN weeks of smuggling guns from Germany to the Irish Volunteers on board the Asgard in 1914 Robert Erskine Childers was called up. His call-up papers were delivered directly to the headquarters of the Irish Volunteers. The author of The Riddle of the Sands became a decorated British naval officer. His sword in gilt brass and leather scabbard is lot 91 at Mullen's Collector's Cabinet auction in Bray next Saturday (July 11). Engraved "RE Childers" it is estimated at €3,000-€5,000.

Robert Erskine Childers was executed in 1922 by the nascent Irish Free State during the Civil War. Erskine Childers, the Fianna Fail politician who became Ireland's fourth president, was his son.

The Collector's Cabinet is a postponed sale originally scheduled for March 28. The 572 lots can be viewed online at The Saleroom. Among them is a copy of Error of Judgement by Chris Mullin signed by the author, the Birmingham Six and solicitor Gareth Peirce. It is estimated at €300-€500. There are 110 lots of Irish and international banknotes from the collection of Patrick Browne, secretary of the Cork Philatelic Society who began collecting banknotes in the 1990s. Estimates range from €80-€2,500.

A 1908 London Olympics competitor's badge at Mullen's.

Among the scarcest of the sporting lots are a competitors badge from the 1908 London Olympic Games and an officials badge from the 1924 Paris Games, immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire.

This 19th century giltwood and gesso mirror is at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin.

A set of 12 William IV rosewood dining chairs with an estimate of €3,000-€5,000 is the most expensively estimated lot at the James Adam At Home online sale in Dublin tomorrow. Bidding options for this 347-lot sale of antique furniture, paintings, books, jewellery, silver and collectibles are available at Adams. A c1780 Limerick silver tablespoon by Morris Fitzgerald is estimated at €300-€400 and a pair of large Meissen models of exotic birds carry an estimate of €1,000-€2,000.

A pair of 19th-century Meissen models of exotic birds at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin tomorrow.

There are Waterford Crystal chandeliers, rugs, mirrors, Sevres urns, a wine cooler and a 19th-century giltwood marble-topped console table. A selection of Chinese export porcelain will generate interest. One of the more unusual lots is Robert Morrisson's (1782-1834) 19th-century dictionary of the Chinese language. In three parts this is estimated at €3,000-€4,000. A Russian Gardener porcelain figure of a glazier made in Moscow in the 19th century is estimated at €1,000-€1,500.

The sale offers a wide variety of all sorts of items, practical and decorative, for the home. If taking tea has become a thing in lockdown there might be interest in a c1900 Furstenberg white porcelain tea set with 39 pieces. It is estimated at €300-€500.