NEWPORT HOUSE October 20th & 21st 2026

25 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 190. An early 19th Century large Ottoman silk and metal thread 'Tomb' Curtain, of rectangular form on cream ground with overall stylized floral borders, in gold thread, the upper section with two medallions on red ground with Arabic text [Ya Hafit - O'Guardian or O'Protector] top right, [Ya Shafi - The Healer or One who Cures] the main central section with a domed or arched panel, the Arabic text reading [Masha Allah - What Allah / God has Willed],mounted on maroon backing, approx. 254cms x 143cms (100 x 56"). (1) Provenance : W.J. Verschoyle Campbell, Tassaggart House, Dublin. €4000 - €5000 194. Original Gavel Used by Dublin's Hellfire Club An 18th-century carved, dagger-shaped Gavel, with an intricately carved grotesque mask handle, used by the "Toastmaster" of the Hellfire Club on Montpelier Hill in South Dublin, approx. 33cms (13") long. (1) Note: Hellfire Clubs were semi-secret gatherings of 18th-century aristocratic rakes, who met to indulge in socially taboo activities which included wild drinking, gambling, and “obscene parodies of religious rites”. The Dublin club was founded in about 1737 by Richard Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse (1702-1741), Freemason and libertine, whose mother, Elizabeth Hamilton, was a niece of Sarah Churchill (née Jennings), Duchess of Marlborough. The members met at the Eagle Tavern on Cork Hill, but later rented a former hunting lodge on Montpelier Hill, built in 1725 by William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The club’s activities declined after the lodge caught fire during one particularly wild session, but was revived in 1771 and continued until the end of the century. The building has long been in ruins and is today maintained by Coillte, the state-owned forestry company. Charles Hamilton (1738-1818) of Hamwood House, Dunboyne, Co. Meath, was toastmaster for the club during its second incarnation, his onerous task being to bring some order to the members’ crazy carousings. The gavel used by him has been preserved to this day by his descendants at Hamwood House. Provenance : The Hamilton Family, Hamwood, Meath, by direct descent. €3,000 - €4,000