Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), and the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Come and visit us in store here at Greene & Greene Antiques, Woollahra to help us celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
 
Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Christians also attend church services and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.

We have an array of Irish made antiques from Irish silver to Irish themed goods. The photos below just show two examples of our Irish range. The left photo is a hallmarked sterling silver brooch with connemara (Irish) marble depicting the Belfast crest amusingly made in Birmingham 1905. And, the right image shows a set of 6 hallmarked sterling silver fiddle pattern entree forks, Dublin 1844 with beautifully clear Dublin hallmarks with Hibernia and a crowned harp.

Last week we sold a fabulous Irish silver dish ring by West & Co. Unfortunately we didn't take a photo so it couldn't be featured in the blog.

Come and visit us in store here at Greene & Greene Antiques, Woollahra to help us celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

As of a 2007 study, cats are the second most popular pet in the world by number of pets owned, behind the first, which is freshwater fish. Goes to show we've been CAT CRAZY for generations and here at Greene & Greene Antiques we've got plenty in store for our cat collectors.

Since cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there, but there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic period from around 9,500 years ago (7,500 BCE). A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, having diverged around 8,000 BCE in West Asia. A 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5,500 BCE, though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today.

The three images below are just an example of our diverse cat collection: (Left) 18 carat white gold cat ring with sapphire eyes and diamond teeth, Italian c.1990. (Right) 18 carat yellow gold cat brooch with ruby eyes and pearl collar, c.1970. 

(Below) Heavy quality hallmarked sterling silver tea tray, Sheffield 1929 made and retailed by Hardy Bros with (close-up) unusual hand engraved crest in centre depicting a cat passant, above a torse or wreath.

Need a piece of our cat collection right Meow! Come and visit us at Greene & Greene Antiques, Woollahra.