Our Story
A Little Bit About Us!
Established in 2015 – Rockwell Antiques Dallas is a purveyor of a high quality selection of personally curated antique furniture, objects and fine art, amassed over a 30 year period, backed up with a lifetime of experience and appreciation of high quality, elegant and historical objects!
We are a Family operated Business.
We consider ourselves to be very friendly, affable and approachable people.
We love to ‘chat’ and ‘regale’ you with the story behind each piece.
We have a PASSION for what we sell.
Nevan O’Shaughnessy – Owner:
Born in Dublin, Ireland, but raised in the Irish Countryside, Nevan has been involved in the area of Fine Art & Fine Antiques since he was a child. Inspired by his mother’s love of antiques and collecting. Growing up on a diet of Antique Stores, Auctions and Countryside Mansions, Nevan developed a ‘keen eye’ and ‘natural instinct’ for identifying quality antiques and fine art. He attended boarding school (High School) at Rockwell College, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Ire. (hence the name of our business) and thereafter he graduated from University College Dublin with a Degree in Law. He then qualified as a lawyer from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland and practiced law in Ireland for 25 years, 22 of which, he operated and ran his own successful law firm. As a successful lawyer, Nevan was in a position to indulge his ‘passion’, by curating the Collection you see here today. ‘Blessed’ with an almost photographic memory and coupled with the 21st Century skills in IT and the areas of research, makes Nevan, one of the best in the business, as is evident, from the multiple industry awards he has received since becoming a full time dealer.
Nevan has ‘particular expertise’ in the areas of British & Irish Georgian (18th Century) pieces and Anglo-Indian antiques from the 18th and 19th Centuries.
In 1999, he met the love of his life, Mary, a Dallas native, and in 2015 they decided to relocate/return to the DFW area, bringing his knowledge, experience and collection with him.
Nevan has extensive contacts in the antique industry both here in the US, and also in Europe.
OUR BUSINESS NAME:
Many Customers have asked where we developed the name for our business?
No, it is not named after ‘Norman’ or ‘Sam Rockwell’, nor is it a misspelling of ‘Rockwall’. LOL
It is named after the Boarding School (High School) in Ireland, that Nevan attended for 6 of the best years of his life, ROCKWELL COLLEGE in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.
Nevan is a proud Alumni and decided to name his business after the school that shaped him into becoming an adult and the person that he is today!
Rockwell College, founded in 1864, is an independent day and boarding Catholic secondary school near Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland.
The school has a rugby tradition and has won the Munster Schools Senior Cup 26 times and the Munster Schools Junior Cup 19 times.
This explains why Nevan is an ‘avid’ rugby fan and you will often see him in the Design District Gallery, wearing one of his ‘many’ rugby shirts! LOL
Rockwell is run by the Spiritans (Holy Ghost Fathers).
It’s list of former pupils and teachers includes two Presidents of Ireland, namely, Eamon De Valera and Patrick Hillery.
In fact, Eamon De Valera, won a Munster Schools Rugby Cup Winners Medal with Rockwell in around 1905.
Another famous alumni is Thomas MacDonagh, poet, teacher and co-leader of 1916 Rising, for which he was executed.
OUR AMERICAN CONNECTIONS:
Mary is a Texan/Dallas native and has traced her ancestry back to the mid 1600’s and back to the original colony in Jamestown. Her ancestry is a combination of mainly Irish, English and Welsh…. with a smattering of other European ethnicities, like most Americans that have been here that long. She is also a ‘Daughter of the Revolution.’
Nevan is ‘literally’ 100% Irish, as his DNA results have proven! One of only 7% who can claim that honor! LOL
But Nevan has always felt a keen connection to the US and has always felt that there was something ‘intangible’, luring him towards living in the US.
In 2015 Nevan became aware of just how much his family’s connection to the US was indeed both ‘historic’ and ‘eerily’ predictive!
It turns out that Nevan’s ancestors, have in fact had an important (if unheralded) part to play in the ‘building of America’.
Most people will be aware of the famous and iconic image of “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper’ by Charles C. Ebbets:
This iconic photo depicts a number of steel workers taking a break on a steel beam on the 69th Floor of the now RCA Building in Manhattan.
It features 11 men in total and prior to 2014, only 2 of them had been identified as Sicilian-Americans.
In 2014 a publican (pub owner) in the village of Shanglish in East County Galway in Ireland, identified the 2 characters on opposite ends of the beam.
The gent on the extreme right, holding what looks like and empty ‘naggin’ bottle of whiskey, was the first to be identified as Sonny Glynn of Shanglish, who had emigrated to New York in the 1920’s during the Irish War of Independence.
This led to the ‘chap’ on the extreme left (having his cigarette lit) being identified, as Sonny’s best friend from Shanglish, who had emigrated with him, as none other than ‘Mattie O’Shaughnessy’.
Mattie was, in fact, Nevan’s grandfather’s first cousin!
What is ‘eerie’ is that when Nevan looks at this iconic photo he feels like he is looking at the identical twin of his own father when he looks at Mattie! The similarity is ‘uncanny’ and ‘unmistakeable’ to him. He has ‘no doubt’ whatsoever that this is, in fact his ancestor!
To make things even more ‘eerie’, Nevan’s Dad was also called “Mattie” and (to blow your mind) the photo was taken by Ebbet’s on the 20th September … Nevan’s birthday!
Nevan is extremely PROUD that his ‘ancestor’, is in an image that is symbolic of how the Irish helped to build modern America …. something that Nevan feels, is his honor, duty and privilege to continue today!
