AUCTIONEERS say bidding for a set of Victorian and early 19th century mirrors gave a fair reflection of their worth – with them fetching £7,000.The Ipswich School of Dancing had been hoping the auctioneer's hammer would not fall too soon and is delighted with the sum raised.

AUCTIONEERS say bidding for a set of Victorian and early 19th century mirrors gave a fair reflection of their worth – with them fetching £7,000.

The Ipswich School of Dancing had been hoping the auctioneer's hammer would not fall too soon and is delighted with the sum raised.

The school, owned and run by Rosemary Watson, Jennifer Dix and Susan Matthews, was selling the mirrors to help with the cost of refurbishing its studio.

The 14 mirrors, which used to line the walls of the school's studio in Bond Street, Ipswich, were sold by Felixstowe fine art auctioneers Diamond Mills and Co and attracted interest from home and abroad.

The mirrors will be worth more in time – some of them thousands of pounds each – once their new owners have restored them to their former glory, stripping off the green paintwork and replacing it with expensive gold leaf.

Nigel Papworth, of Diamond Mills, had hoped the mirrors would fetch between £200 and £800 each and was "very pleased" with the outcome.

"It was a good sale and we and the dancing school are very pleased with the result," he said.

Details of the buyers are unknown but the larger mirrors would probably sit very well in a country or London house, while some of the smaller ones would fit Victorian properties where people renovate and put back period features.

Some of the mirrors were more than seven feet by six feet, with the best a Regency mirror with an anthemion decorated frame.

Among the 425 lots in the sale at Diamond Mills' hall in Orwell Road, Felixstowe, was a 24 inch-long tinplate gunship from the early 20th century. The toy, which was found in the owner's garage, made £2,550 – five times what the auctioneers expected.