A PAIR of George II side tables made for Bellinter House in Navan, Co Meath, made sterling£595,500 at a Christie's auction in London on Thursday, almost twice the catalogue estimate. Known as The Bellinter Tables, the white-painted pieces with heavy specimen marble tops had been expected to make sterling£200,000-£300,000. They were made for an MP, John Preston, who built, Bellinter in 1750 to a design by the Palladian architect Richard Castle.

Other Irish pieces fetched exceptional prices in the same sale. A set of eight Irish George III dining chairs made £69,700 against a top estimate of £35,000 - they are similar to a set of chairs supplied in 1770 to Lady Louisa Connolly for the dining room of Castletown House. An Irish Georgian tea table, said to be from the Irish Parliament House, sold for £19,550 (estimate, £4,000-£6,000).