13 January 2026

Propertymark

You may have seen Izzie Balmer on shows such as Antiques Road Trip, Bargain Hunt, and The Travelling Auctioneers. However, she shares her story when it came to successfully auctioning two 1930s ‘Mouseman’ dining tables for a record-breaking price of £78,000.

The furniture was named after Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson (1876-1955), a famous furniture maker from Kilburn, North Yorkshire. He handcrafted oak pieces including a distinctive carved mouse.

They originally belonged to an independent preparatory school that educated children for over 130 years in Leeds called Moorlands School before it closed in July 2025.

One table was made in 1937 from a piece of oak, which is nearly 6 metres long, and it was then sold to a bidder over the phone at £42,000.

The second 5 metre table, also sold over the phone to a bidder in Hawaii and constructed in 1935, sold for £36,000.

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.

Commenting on the part she played in this successful auction sale, Izzie Balmer, NAVA Propertymark auctioneer, shares her thoughts:

“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.”