FULL SIZED stuffed lion is among the more unusual items included in next week's two day auction being conducted by George Mealy & Sons on the company's premises in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny. Mr Mealy gives assurances that the beast (which carries an estimate of £2,000-£3,000) was not shot locally but is part of a section devoted to natural history specimens in next Tuesday and Wednesday's auction of 1,500 plus lots. Other lots in the same group include an early Irish elk skull (£200-£300), a trophy head of a large water buffalo (£400-£600) and an ocelot skin rug with head (£100-£200).
The Mealy sale is full of such curiosities: ship models, maritime instruments and nautical equipment; clocks and barometers; and automaton and musical instruments. There are other unusual pieces, such as the damaged centre section of a propellor from the first aeroplane to fly from England to Ireland in 1912 (£250-£350), and an 18th century Italian carved wooden figure (£400-£600).
However, on the second day of the auction, furniture and pictures predominate. The former includes a Victorian harlequin piano fronted davenport desk and a pair of George III style satinwood cabinets, both carrying a pre sale estimate of £2,000-£3,000. A pair of carved white marble fireplaces are valued at £1,800-£2,500, a large 19th century gilt and gesso wall mirror in the Chippendale style carry an estimate of £3,500-£5,000, a large William IV and later twin pedestal mahogany dining table is expected to fetch £3,000-£4,000 and a pair of brass bound mahogany peat buckets are valued at £2,500-£3,200.
Highlight of the picture section is a large canvas by James Arthur O'Connor. An Irish landscape with figures, cattle and a dog in the foreground, it is expected to make the sale's highest price of £12,000-£16,000.
No other painting comes anywhere near this figure, but among the other lots worth noting are a picture of cattle and sheep beside a pond by J d'Artois (£1,200-£1,500), an oil on copper panel of an old man by a follower of A. Van Ostade (£1,200 £1,500), a handsome mid-18th century Irish portrait of a lady (£400-£600) and, for the religious minded, a portrait of a saint after Guido Reni (also £400-£600).
