While collecting should be about buying items of interest rather than as a pure investment, it is always nice feeling to get ahead of the market. With that in mind, we asked the professionals what they saw as the big sellers for the year ahead.
While Mr Ian Whyte of Whyte's auction rooms in Marlborough Street, Dublin, was cautious of making predictions, he believes stamp collectors will pay handsomely for pre-1960 mint condition Irish stamps. "I would have thought that good intact collections will still go very well, mainly of pre-1960 material. That's been the trend for the last year and I think that will continue. But they have to be good collections. "In Irish stamps, the early issues of Ireland from 1922 to 1930 in absolutely tip-tip condition will continue to increase in value. If they're not in tip-top condition I don't expect any increase in value in them because the new collectors coming in are looking for post office quality."
Early Irish coins, particularly Hiberno-Norse, should continue to be sought after. But Irish decimal coinage should also prove popular given its replacement by the euro in 2002. "I'd say there will be a bit of almost panic buying of Irish coinage from the last 50 years or so, in particular the decimal coins of Ireland from 1971 to 2001 . . . People will be quite surprised at the rarity and the prices that will be achieved for some of those coins. It would be extremely difficult to put together a collection of decimal period Irish coins in brilliant, uncirculated condition." It may surprise people to hear that high-quality decimal coinage is in short supply, but the dealers didn't keep stocks of it for the first 10 or 12 years, he says. "So I think that would be a very hot tip."
Highlights at Whyte's in the past year included the millennium collection of Irish coins - a single collector's collection - which fetched in excess of £300,000 (€381,200). It was the largest collection of Irish coins ever offered. Another highlight was a single-collector collection of stamps that fetched £140,000.
Meanwhile, the film archive of film shot during the 19161922 period fetched £95,000 and was bought by a private collector in Ireland. Mr James O'Halloran, director of James Adam Salerooms at St Stephen's Green, Dublin, forecasts that paintings by two living artists, Ms Camille Souter and Mr Tony O'Malley, will further increase in value.
"I would say that we will see Camille Souter do very well. She's a living artist and she . . . has very strong prices at the moment and they are gaining strength. Generally speaking, her pictures are making in the high four figures, running into five figures now. Her average is running around about £10,000. I think they are going to continue on that steady upward movement.
"Another living artist who is going to continue, I think, making great strides is Tony O'Malley. He again has become very popular amongst the younger, wealthier collectors."
His paintings command the same kind of price as Ms Souter. Highlights at James Adam's in the past year included the Roderic O'Conor La Rose du Ciel, Cassis. Painted about 1913, it made £340,000. Says Mr O'Halloran: "It came from an Irish collector, was sold through an Irish rooms, made a world record and was bought by an Irish purchaser."
Another highlight was Allegory, a tapestry by Louis Le Brocquy, which fetched £140,000, the highest price ever paid for a tapestry by Mr Le Brocquy.
A spokesperson for Christie's in London declined to offer any predictions for this year. The panel shows selected highlights from auctions at Christie's during last year.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
