Paintings by Drogheda’s best known artist Nano Reid (1905-1981) are really popular both locally and nationally and are currently fetching record prices in the auction houses. One of her paintings bought in April for £1,100 was sold six months later for €48,000!
In their September monthly auction Morgan O’Driscoll Art Auctions who have offices in Dublin, London and Cork, had a painting by the Drogheda artist for sale with a guide price of €800 to €1,000 in the catalogue.
On the night of the auction the painting, a watercolour called ‘Sailing on the Boyne’, sold for €48,000!
Whoever the seller was certainly made a tidy profit because, just six months ago on April 19th 2023, ‘Sailing on the Boyne’ was bought at Ross’s Auctioneers in Belfast for £1,100 sterling!
There is considerable speculation locally as to who bought the painting this week, but one source says it was bought by a local collector.
A spokesperson for Morgan O’Driscoll Art auctions would not be drawn on where the purchaser is from but did confirm that the painting will remain in Ireland.
On Tuesday of this week, 24th October, another Nano Reid painting, this one called ‘On the Boyne’ (below), was in the Morgan O’Driscoll catalogue with an estimated price of €1,000 to €1,500 but on the night achieved a selling price of €5,600.
