Izzie Balmer, NAVA Propertymark auctioneer and presenter of BBC daytime TV shows Antiques Road Trip, Bargain Hunt and The Travelling Auctioneers, has auctioned two 1930s 'Mouseman' dining tables for a record-breaking 78,000.
Named after Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson (1876-1955), a furniture maker from Kilburn in North Yorkshire, the handcrafted oak pieces feature a distinctive carved mouse detail.
Prep schools typically have silver trophies, honour boards, old school desks.... what I wasn't expecting were two huge Mouseman refectory tables - the largest I've seen in my career.
The tables originally belonged to an independent preparatory school which educated children for over 130 years in Leeds called Moorlands School before it closed in July 2025.
Made in 1937 from a single piece of oak, the first table measures almost 6 metres in length and was acquired by a UK-based phone bidder for 42,000.
The second which extends to 5 metres and was made in 1935 also sold over the phone to a bidder - this time from Hawaii.
These amounts are astonishing considering the guide price for the 1937 table was between 8,000 to 12,000, and the 1935 table had a guide price between 5,000 to 8,000.
Balmer tells FM Magazine: "When assisting clients with the sale of their collections, or conducting probate valuations or insurance valuations, you never know what you're going to find, and that's part of the joy of the job.
"Prep schools typically have silver trophies, honour boards, old school desks.... what I wasn't expecting were two huge Mouseman refectory tables - the largest I've seen in my career. They were dated 1937 and 1935 - so from the period of Robert Thompson himself and directly from his workshop.
"Mouseman furniture is hugely popular and together with their age, provenance to the school, and sheer size, went on to sell for a world record auction price for any one piece of Mouseman furniture.
"It was exciting to be the 'finder' and agent of these tables and to see them achieve such an epic auction record."
