A LARGE collection of school furniture, handmade in North Yorkshire 75 years ago, is expected to fetch up to £200,000 when it is sold at auction in Leyburn.

Hundreds of pieces, including solid oak tables, chairs, bookcases and other library furniture, made by Robert "Mouseman" Thompson, in Kilburn, will be sold in July.

The collection was given to Leeds Girls' High School in 1933, and is now being sold.

Mr Thompson's work is continued by a dedicated team of craftsmen in Kilburn, with each piece adorned by a small, carved mouse. Each of the mice takes about 45 minutes to carve.

The furniture will be auctioned as separate lots. Individual pieces, which include pen trays, a book trolley, radiator covers, cupboards and inkwells, are expected to sell for between £80 and £8,000.

A spokesman for auctioneers Tennants said: "The entire collection could fetch between £100,000 and £200,000. The reason the estimate is so broad is that there is no benchmark for such a large collection.

"We anticipate that the furniture will face a more varied future, with the tables being used for meals, not maths books, computers not satchels, and ice buckets not inkwells.

"Many of these solid tables and chairs will go into kitchens around the country and for many years to come will, no doubt, be the place where generations of children will delight in finding the carved mouse while they will sit to do their homework.

"The furniture is in Mouseman's traditional style - solid, practical, timeless and handmade."

Ian Cartwright, director of the Mouseman workshop in Kilburn, said items purchased in the auction could be taken to the workshop for restoration.

The collection will be sold at Tennants' summer sale, in its Leyburn saleroom, from July 17-19. For more information, call 01969-623780, email enquiry@tennants-ltd.co.uk or visit tennants.co.uk.