Edwardian treasures and nativity sets headline Irish antique auctions

Each autumn, Ireland's auction houses become quiet custodians of collective memory, offering the accumulated objects of domestic life to those who might carry them forward. This week, from Woodwards to Doneraile, auctioneers are moving hundreds of lots—Edwardian writing desks, Persian rugs, Hornby train sets, and hand-crafted nativity figures—through online sales that require nothing more than attention and a willing bid. These are not grand historical dispersals, but something perhaps more honest: the steady passage of useful, meaningful things from one life into another.