The house contents auction held by Town & Country last Sunday at Glandore Park, Dun Laoghaire, saw an early 19th century mahogany breakfront bookcase fetch £4,000 and a Victorian giltwood console table, with serpentine white marble, top £2,700.

A set of six Victorian mahogany balloonback dining chairs sold for £1,650, a Victorian, oval, gilded overmantle mirror fetched £1,600 and a Sheraton-style 19th century cased grandfather clock went under the hammer for £1,550.