One of the most anticipated auctions of the year will take place at Waterford firm RJ Keighery on April 17th, when it sells all things garden-related, including Thinking Man’s chairs and a stumpery bench.
With more than 700 lots, it is the company’s largest sale of garden statuary, seating and accoutrements to date and, judging by interest on its Instagram site, it will be a busy one. There are more than 50 seats and benches alone from a great collection of period cast iron pieces (from €650) to more contemporary curved teak models at €300-€500.
Unusual offerings are two cast iron tree benches of circular form, to mimic the curvature of a tree trunk, (€800-€1,000 each) and another curious lot is a heavy convertible bench that turns into a table with a simple lever mechanism (€300-€500).
Of interest are a set of four Jasper Morrison Thinking Man’s chairs, which were the first collaboration between the industrial designer and furniture brand Cappellini.
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Now based between London and Tokyo, Morrison, who is represented in MoMA New York and prominent museums around the world, is considered to be one of the most successful industrial designers of the past few decades (€3,200-€4,200).
The complete opposite of these designer chairs perhaps, is a really super stumpery bench. Fashioned from logs and pieces of bark, it is reminiscent of the huge stumpery at Highgrove House in Gloucester, where King Charles III resides.
Making good use of storm debris and built from sweet chestnut roots held in place by steel rods, apparently when his father – the late Prince Phillip – first saw the stumpery he asked his son, “When are you going to set fire to this lot?”
There’s also a good selection of garden mirrors, mostly with gothic trims. These can be used to great effect in smaller plots to deceive the eye into thinking that you are looking at a larger space. Prices start at €120-€160 for smaller models, up to €250 for a stone Gothic arch top mirror measuring 80cm tall.
If you’re in the market for a Belfast sink, the sale has six priced from €30-€50 for smaller ones and €80-€100 for the larger models. A French outdoor shower bucket is just the thing for hardy bodies that you could spend years searching for. Mounted at a height you just pull the chord and wham – a blast of cold water is dunked upon the person standing underneath (€30-€50).
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There are numerous planters from a set of tall ornate cast models that would suit the front steps of a big period pile (€700-€1,000) to more affordable sets of galvanised buckets at €40-€60.
Things like sets of stacking chairs, angle grinders, generators, gates and wood chippers, ladders and lawnmowers makes it the type of sale that you’re sure to find something of interest. The Easter Island head statue (€100-€150) and numerous tractor seat stools (from €250-€350 for a set of two) give an indication to the vast array of items on sale. antiquesireland.ie
