Des O’Sullivan previews London’s major February auctions.

Unique drawings by Quentin Blake, one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, are available at a Christie’s online auction which runs until December 17.

What to do with an unexpected €40,000?

Des O’Sullivan reports on stellar prices and previews upcoming sales

Rosscarbery antiques fair offers plenty of variety, writes Des O’Sullivan.

Even collectors on a budget will find much to interest them at Christie’s auction, says Des O’Sullivan.

Des O’Sullivan previews a sparkling sale poised to be a real jewel in the crown for Christie’s in New York

Des O’Sullivan casts an eye over Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art sale BISHOP Willie Walsh of Killaloe is generally considered by liberals in Ireland to be one of the good guys.

The Pope has had a cut at hairdressers for indulging in gossip while coiffing their customers’ locks.

The auction house is to be commended, writes Des O’Sullivan.

“The poor you will always have with you,” Jesus declared as he was anointed at Bethany. Almost 2,000 years later, little has changed.

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The New York sale of a 1917 nude painting by Amadeo Modigliani is believed to have earned horse stud owner John Magnier close to €120m.

Classic paintings by Guardi and Turner sold for huge money in London, writes Des O’Sullivan

This Irish silver basket by John Hamilton, Dublin c1745, is one of a number of lots of Irish silver at Sotheby’s in New York next Wednesday.

A work of art owned by U2 bassist Adam Clayton is expected to fetch €1.8m at auction.

The Holy Family with an Angel by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) was the top lot at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London last week.

Work by Jack Butler Yeats and a model of the Church of St Anne are stand-outs, writes Des O’Sullivan.

Reassessment of great collection includes undiscovered rarities, writes Des O’Sullivan. 

ONLINE AUCTION

US: An aspiring nun who was told she couldn’t enter a convent until her student loan debt was paid off has used an online appeal to get the money.

LYNES AND LYNES AUCTION TODAY

CONVENT AUCTION

This print of Yachts of the water club of the Harbour, Cork is at Lynes and Lynes on July 16.

Christie’s auction of postwar and contemporary art in London began with a bombshell: The event’s star lot, an abstract painting by Gerhard Richter, was withdrawn. That was just minutes after the world’s largest rough diamond failed to sell at Sotheby’s.

THE collection of the late art critic Brian Sewell to be auctioned at Christie’s next September, includes a work by the Cork born artist James Barry (1741-1806).

A blue diamond set a record price for any jewel in auction when it went under the hammer for $58m (€52m) in a Christie’s sale in Geneva.

The United States has returned to Italy a letter written by Christopher Columbus in 1493 about his discovery of the New World that was stolen from a Florence library and unwittingly acquired by the Library of Congress.

DOZEN GAA MEDALS

Des O’Sullivan reports on a split canvas holding a nude by Francis Bacon. 

There’s show-stopping suspense ahead with a major find in the offing for the Antiques Roadshow. Kya deLongchamps is mesmerised by this and other tales from the long-running BBC programme. 

Des O’Sullivan says that 2015 has been a year when records were broken for sales of art and sculpture.