Is art a good investment? Gerard Dillon’s Tea Party (1955) would seem to have proved so, when it sold for ten times its estimate, or €1.375 million, at Adam’s last month. On the other hand, such hefty successes are rare, and those who profit most from the art market tend to be those who have the buying power to back up their hunches. In 2007, Damien Hirst famously sold his diamond studded skull, For the Love of God, to an anonymous group of investors for a reported $100 million. Hirst later verified that the aforementioned group of investors included none other than himself, as well as his gallery, The White Cube. The piece, according to the artist, now sits in a storage facility in Hatton Garden. Having bet that adding the sparkle of diamonds to the cachet of contemporary art would cause a frenzy among a certain kind of mega wealthy buyer, the artist was disappointed. “Everyone buys into the fact that paintings cost nothing to make, but can sell for an infinite amount,” he told The New York Times, expressing his surprise that For the Love of God hadn’t sold for much more money to someone else. “Why can they believe in that, but not the other?” he wondered.Far better, then, for believers in art to go to the source, and support artists right at the start of their careers. NCAD Works 2026, the graduate degree show at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, finishes today (viewing until 5pm at 100 Thomas Street), while the MFA exhibition is at Rua Red in Tallaght until June 20th. There’s also a last chance to see the work of graduates from the Sherkin Island BA Visual Art Degree Show 2026 at Uillin, the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen, closing today, and you will still find all the graduates’ work online. Prints are also an excellent way to buy art without betting the house on it. Mór, in Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, which opens on June 18th, adds size to what tends to be a (dimensionally speaking) smaller form. Large-scale works on show include stand-outs such as Alastair Keady’s Golden Arches (€1,600); Ed Miliano’s Summer Blackbird (€3,500); John Kindness’s The Prince and the Pauper (€1,100); Cliona Doyle’s Apple ‘Belle de Boskoop’ (€3,000); and Niall Naessens’s Landscape with Botticelli Roses (€1,500). All prices are for unframed prints and the exhibit ends August 1st. Niall Naessens, Landscape with Botticelli Roses Cliona Doyle, Apple ‘Belle de Boskoop’ Another fascinating exhibition in Dublin is Oil, Gas + Cars by Irish/Chinese photographer Tung Walsh. Best known for his fashion photography and portraits of the likes of Manolo Blahnik, Andrew Scott, Tim Burton, Stella Tennant and Dua Lipa, The Horse Gallery is showing pieces from Walsh’s personal archive. This is what it looks like on the road, behind the glamour, but focusing instead on what caught the attention of an artist with an exceptional eye. Prices from €650 to €6,000, ends June 27th. Tung Walsh, Azerbaijan, from Oil, Gas + Cars at Horse Gallery Dublin Back to those degree shows: in 1988, when Damien Hirst was still a student at Goldsmiths College of Art, he put on an exhibition in a derelict building in London’s docklands. Sixteen artists were included and Freeze, now legendary in the art world, kicked off Hirst’s career and those of his contemporaries, including Mat Collishaw, Anya Gallaccio, Gary Hume, Michael Landy, Sarah Lucas and Fiona Rae. Everything starts somewhere, and isn’t it much more exciting to be in at the beginning, than trying to buy at the top?Silver on saleIn the 18th and 19th centuries, the goldsmiths of Cork were fighting a losing battle. Concerned at the dangers, and the length of time involved in sending their silverware to the Assay office in Dublin, they actively campaigned for a Cork hallmarker. After all, being able to verify silver locally would surely boost the makers and their trade. No such luck, although their disappointment does mean Cork silver frequently bears its own intriguing markings. Carden Terry, one of the city’s most important silversmiths, did send some of his pieces to Dublin for marking, but he also frequently marked his own – as did many of his colleagues. Hegarty Antiques has two highlight pieces of Cork silverware in its upcoming sale, which concludes online on June 17th. A George III coffee pot, with an acorn-shaped finial by Terry, is marked CT for Carden Terry, and STERLING to demonstrate that Terry was vouching for his own materials. The piece was made in or around 1765, and Terry registered with the Dublin Goldsmith’s Company in 1784. It has an estimate of €6,500-€7,500. A rare George III coffee pot by Carden Terry, Cork c.1765. (Estimate: €6,500 - €7,500) A love of silver, or rather, silversmiths themselves, ran in the Terry family. His older sister, Jane, married the Clonmel silversmith Hercules Morgan, while his daughter, also named Jane, married John Williams. Williams was Terry’s apprentice, but would become his business partner, marking their work T&W for Terry and Williams. On her husband’s death, Jane took over and worked alongside her father until he died in 1821. A cased pair of Cork silver dishes by William Egan & Sons, circa 1960. More Cork silver, this time by William Egan & Sons, is also in the sale. The pair of circular dishes in their original case have fluted edges and are raised on low circular feet. They date from about 1960 and are estimated at €400-€800. Egan & Sons are interesting for having made the rare and highly prized Republican silver. Founded in the 1820s on Grand Parade, they later moved to Patrick Street. There they would remain, despite their shop being destroyed during the burning of Cork in 1920, until closing for business in 1986. In 1922, during the Irish civil war, it wasn’t possible to get silver assayed in Dublin. And so, under the directorship of Barry M Egan, then also deputy mayor of Cork, special hallmarking dies were made, depicting a ship flanked by single-towered castles, echoing the image that appears in the Cork city coat of arms. There are only 60-80 pieces of Republican silver known to be in existence. A silver bowl, brought to the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow by Egan’s granddaughter Sarah in 2015, was valued by Alastair Dickenson at £15,000. The pair of silver dishes in this sale were made a generation after the Republic was established, but having also revived Cork silversmithing in the 1910s, the Egans’ heritage is interesting nonetheless. ncad.ie; westcorkartscentre.com; graphicstudiodublin.com; thehorse.xyz; hegartyantiques.com What did it sell for?Frank McKelvey’s The Fair Day at Camlough, Co. Armagh (€20,000) is one of the paintings from the Hughes collection at Adam's Irish art auction on May 27 The Fair Day at Camlough, Co Armagh, Frank McKelveyEstimate €20,000-€30,000Hammer price €42,000Auction house Adam’sStill Life by Norah McGuinness (€6,000-€8,000) at Adam's Irish Art auction on May 27 Still Life, Norah McGuinnessEstimate €6,000-€8,000Hammer price €5,000Auction house Adam’sChateau Latour 1982