Waterford and Dublin auctions highlight how times have changed

The triumph of convenience over style is laid bare in the leading lot at the At Home sale

A 12 place canteen of cutlery at Adam's in Dublin.

When it comes to 21st-century dining, convenience is trumped by style almost all of the time. Trump is trumped by style in every single department, but that is another story. The leading lot at the James Adam timed online At Home sale, which closes this Tuesday (August 25), underlines the latter-day supremacy of convenience. The c1937-39 Sheffield Old English pattern canteen in a mahogany George III-castyle chest contains butter knives, sugar tongs, fruit spoons and forks, dessert spoons, a soup ladle, sauce ladles, fish knives and forks, a fish carving knife and fork set, a bone handled four piece carving set, cheese knives and cutlery for every conceivable dining occasion — except eating out of a paper bag or box.

A Killarney wood sewing table at R J Keighery in Waterford.

This interior sale draws on Irish country houses, city residences and collections with 472 lots from the 18th century to the present day. There is a selection of furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, mirrors, clocks, rugs, lighting, pictures and collectibles. The catalogue, with oodles of character, is online.

The auction by RJ Keighery in Waterford next Monday includes 75 lots of Waterford Crystal, including a large globe with chrome fittings among a total of 844 lots. A fully fitted Killarney wood sewing table on pod is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. A luxurious coromandel and brass lady's travelling vanity box by Austins, the 19th-century Dublin cabinetmakers, is similarly estimated.