Historic Brooches Linked to Wexford and Wicklow Family Sell for €1.3m

Two extremely rare Kashmir sapphire brooches, held in an Irish family’s vault for nearly 40 years, have sold for a combined €1.3 million at auction in Dublin.

The brooches, part of a historic jewellery collection, far exceeded their estimates, fetching €540,000 and €550,000 respectively. The collection once belonged to a family linked to the Honourable Hugh Melville Howard of Shelton Abbey, Co Wicklow, and Ounavarra House, Co Wexford. The brooches are believed to date back to the early 1900s and were originally gifted by New York high society to mark a marriage into Irish nobility.