MORE than many other cities in this country, Cork has not just a considerable number of antiques shops but many of have a longer pedigree than their equivalents elsewhere. Visitors to Cork will also discover that by far the majority of antiques dealers are concentrated within walking distance of each other, with Lavitt's Quay and MacCurtain Street being especially popular.
The latter, for example, has Pinnacle Antiques (44a MacCurtain Street, tel. 021-501319), which has been on the same site for the past decade. The shop holds plenty of pine (all stripping done by Pinnacle's staff), as well as some mahogany and walnut furniture, together with a wealth of prints and paintings.
At present, stock includes a mid-19th century pine bookcase, with covered shield-panel doors and drawers on the lower section, priced at £2,650, as well as a gothic-style Victorian church shrine, adapted into a glass-fronted display cabinet, for £475.
Lynes & Lynes (48a MacCurtain Street, tel. 021-500982), which is close by, is another well-established company which also conducts regular auctions during the year. The shop is well-stocked with 18th and 19th century furniture, such as an Irish Georgian sideboard, possibly from Cork and dating from around 1800; this is priced at £6,500. Also on sale at the moment: a rosewood circular Regency table for £2,500 and a pair of Regency mahogany hall chairs for £1,250.
Next door is Stokes Clocks (48 MacCurtain Street, 021-551195), which, as its name implies, specialises in just one area of the market. Stokes not only sells but also repair clocks, watches and barometers. The range of handsome items available includes a 1730 mahogany longcase clock made by Chris Clarke of Dublin, sellingn for £4,200. Somewhat smaller but just as attractive is an 1840s French ormolu clock on onyx base, costing £1,200.
On the same side of the Lee is Devonshire Antiques (9 Carrolls Quay, tel. 021-509300), which tends to specialise in furniture only. A gilt overmantel mirror from the early 19th century, decorated with dancing figures across the top, carries a price of £2,500, while a late 19th century Irish oak side table and two chairs, all elaborately carved, costs £900 for the set.
Further down the Lee, on a tiny laneway off Shandon Street, is the Antiques & Curios Centre (North Gate Bridge, tel. 021-395320), which specialises in selling house contents and restoring pieces of old country furniture bought in the Cork/Kerry region. At present, this premises holds a pine press/ bookcase, some six feet in height, for £160, a glass-fronted dresser for £345 and a Victorian mahogany bathroom swivel mirror for £160.
A concentration of antiques dealers across the Lee begins with O'Regan's Antiques (21 Lavitt's Quay and also Paul's Lane, tel. 021-272902). The range of furniture covered here is very wide; at the moment it runs from a Victorian credenza, some 7ft long (£3,800), through a pair of cast-iron console tables with marble tops, dating from the 1840s (£15,000 for the pair) to a Cork mahogany Regency sideboard (£1,800).
Next door is Murphy & Quinlan (19 Lavitt's Quay, tel. 021-271418), which deals almost exclusively in Victorian antique beds and iron and brass bedsteads. The average, 4ft 6in brass bed starts at £400, rising to £900. Barely a year old, Horologium Antiques (18 Lavitt's Quay, tel. 021-278153) is one of Cork's newest businesses in this field. Although there is an obvious emphasis on clocks and barometers Horologium Antiques carries lots of fine 1 8th century furniture, too, such as an Irish oak, brass-dial longcase clock by Robert Welsh of Cork, dating from 1760 (£4,000), and an early 19th century pine, bow-fronted corner cupboard, with glazed upper doors (£2,000). A particularly fine set of eight Hepplewhite-period dining chairs is priced at £5,000.
Around the corner is The Mills Antiques (3 Paul's Lane, Huguenot Centre, tel. 021-273528), which has been at its present location for almost 10 years. The Mills specialises in oil paintings, watercolours and prints, but there are also many small items of silver and glass and some pieces of furniture. Among the work on show is a late 17th/early 18th century Flemish still-life oil on canvas for £2,200 and a set of four-framed colour prints, depicting the 1874 Punchestown Races, costing £950.
Anne McCarthy (2 Paul's Lane, Huguenot Centre, tel. 021-273755) is next door and this shop is again filled with lots of small pieces, especially silver and porcelain. Typical of the present stock is an early 19th century silver vinaigrette, priced at £175, and a late 18th century brass-bound rosewood writing box with its interior intact (£275). Anne McCarthy also carries plenty of old linen and lace.
Close to the city's courthouse, Helga's Antiques (Cross Street, tel. 021-270034) only opened last October but it is crammed with a mixture of furniture, pictures, old musical instruments, curios and jewellery. Browsing through this array, the visitor will find a Victorian ebony roll-top desk, with brass fittings, for £2,000, and a pair of inlaid display tables, with two drawers apiece, priced at £750 for the two. A pair of early 20th century oil landscapes (Helga's Antiques is well-stocked with such paintings) carries a price tag of £525.
Off Oliver Plunkett Street, Marlboro Gold Arts (33 Marlboro Street, 021-277052) concentrates on antique jewellery and some objets d'art. Of particular interest is a piece of Cork Republican silver, a cream jug, five inches tall and made by William Egan in 1922, which because of its considerable rarity costs £7,500. More modestly priced are such pieces of jewellery as a pair of cameo, drop earrings set in 18 carat gold, with filigree work, and priced at £750 and a Victorian brooch and matching earrings, with views of Rome in fine mosaic work for £2,800.
Diana O'Mahony (8 Winthrop Street, tel. 021-276599), which is fairly close by, also specialises in antique jewellery, especially diamond rings and brooches. At the moment, the shop's stock includes a Colombian, square-cut emerald, some one-and-a-quarter carats, surrounded by diamonds in a Victorian setting (£3,250); as well as a diamond bar, totalling two carats and set in platinum (£1,950); and, an art deco diamond and pearl brooch, again set in platinum (£2,995)
Victoria's Antiques (2 Oliver Plunkett Street, tel. 021-272752) is another shop dealing primarily in jewellery, such as a late Victorian coral, seed pearl, emerald and diamond pendant, with matching earrings, for £895; a hand-painted vinaigrette for £295; and an art deco diamond ring, the central stone surrounded by smaller diamonds and ruby chips; it is priced at £3,500. Victoria's Antiques also sells period clothing, old lace, pictures and silver, as does its sister shop in Cork, Savoy Antiques (Savoy Centre, Patrick Street, same telephone number as for Victoria's Antiques).
Here the selection of gold muff chains runs from £450 to £1,000, while an art deco, square-shaped diamond and emerald ring costs £1.650. Both a rose-gold, bar-style bracelet and a cameo brooch, set in nine carat gold, carry the same price tag of £350.
Slightly outside the main shopping centre, Goodwood's Pine Furniture (Rosebank, Old Blackrock Road, tel. 021-318418) deals mainly in Irish country furniture, all of which has been restored by the company. An early Victorian matching dresser and a four-door food press, both in stripped pine, cost £1,800 for the pair.
Goodwood's also deals extensively in architectural salvage, such as a Victorian door which has been finished and re-painted and now sells for £120; when such doors include original leaded glass the price can rise up to £250-£300.
Finally, Joe O'Connell (Evergreen Street, tel. 021-364576), while offering a restoration and French polishing service, also carries a selection of furniture, both pine and mahogany. At present, there is an Edwardian pine chest of drawers for £275, a four-tier walnut what not from the same period for £140 and a 1920s mahogany dressing table for £450. Joe O'Connell is not open at weekends.
FOOT NOTE:
Last week's feature on antique shops in the Limerick region did not include The Village Gate, which is located just outside the city at Castleconnell. The current selection of stock here includes a Victorian mahogany telescopic dining table for £1,500, a large selection of two and three-piece silver tea sets from the late 19th century for around £750, as well as jewellery, pictures and prints.
