. . . But not alway at an Allsop Space auction.

Last Friday’s packed auction room at the Shelbourne Hotel included a great number of “cash buyers” – potential purchasers who don’t need bank credit. But the Block understands one chap took it so literally he wanted to hand over the real thing – fresh euro notes totalling no less than €45,000 – if he emerged as the top bidder for a provincial property about to go under the hammer.

The Allsop Space team were only too well aware that this is not accepted practice in today’s tightly regulated financial world, and the bidder was duly advised to convert the cash into a bank draft at a nearby bank. This he did without any difficulty.