All that glitters: Two auctions offering silver and crystal

Nothing complements fine dining more than silver and crystal, writes Des O'Sullivan

An arts and crafts silver porringer with green glass liner at Keighery's.

Memo to the slow-food movement. Nothing complements fine dining so much as glittering silver and crystal. The At Home sale by James Adam in Dublin and RJ Keighery's biggest-ever single-day auction in Waterford offers bags of both. Both auctions are on Tuesday (February 24). 

Pride of place at James Adam is a 24 place Sheffield silver-thread pattern canteen from around 1947. It weighs over 446 troy ounces in total, excluding the stainless steel blades and sits in its own walnut lowboy chest-on-cabriole-legs. The estimate is €10,000-€15,000.

Alphonse Mucha's poster with Sarah Bernhardt at James Adam.

There is an extensive selection of 150 lots of silver at Adam's, over half from a single Irish vendor, along with antique furniture, mirrors, porcelain and art. A lithograph poster by Alphonse Mucha with Sarah Bernhardt playing Photina in La Samaritaine by Edmond Rostand is among a number of collectible in a sale with more than 500 lots.

At Keighery's, a Waterford Crystal Dublin Castle chandelier (€2,500-€3,500) and an arts and crafts silver porringer (€1,200-€1,800) are among the leading lots. 

More than 750 lots will come under the hammer in an auction that offers jewellery, watches, period furniture, oriental rugs, mirrors and two large pitch-pine refectory tables. Both auctions are now on view and the catalogues are online.