Furniture, artwork and collectibles cleared from Ireland's five-star hotels during the pandemic have sold at auction for c.€200,000.

Over 1,100 items were put up for sale by luxury hotels in the Five Star Interiors Sale, attracting attracted interest from Irish and overseas bidders. Dozens more lots in the two-day online auction came from private collections.

Celtic Tiger-era furniture, cabinets, chairs, lighting and soft furnishings from the Powerscourt, Westin, Intercontinental and Glenlo Abbey hotels sold, with many items being reused in other hotels.

Niall Mullen, antiques dealer and organiser of the auction, said 97% of auctioned items sold and that there was "massive interest" from both individuals and people bidding on behalf of hotels and bars.

“Other corporate entities could have chosen to dump these materials during Covid but thankfully, the quality was recognised and they can be used again, which is great from an environmental point of view," he continued.

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“It is brilliant that people are willing to give things a second chance.”

The largest price paid for a single item was €5,200 for a John Morris painting of the Shelbourne Hotel, which had an initial guide price of €1,000-2,000.

The original ticket booth from Dublin’s Ambassador cinema went for €1,600, while a buyer from Boston had the final bid on an American barber’s chair from the old Reads Cutlers for €1,650, having guided at €400-800.

A stunning Graham Knuttel work – Cocktail Girl – reached €4,400, while a lifesize bronze sculpture of a hunting hare went for €1,250.

Several lots from the former Buck Whaley’s nightclub and Larry Murphy’s bar in the capital also sold.

A pair of Tara Crystal chandeliers, removed from a house in Dublin’s Sandycove, fetched €2,500, while a Theodore Alexander-made desk from Harrods in London, made €2,600.

“Auctioneer Aidan Foley was impressed by such strong bidding in mid-January and to have been able to give these items new homes was a testament to their quality,” said Mullen. “At its height, 400 people were bidding for these lots online.

“Antiques dealers and auctioneers sometimes look at things and think they might not sell, but there was a set of 1970s stools from Glenlo Abbey which made €800 – they are so retro, they are relevant again.”