1stAngel & Friends

A painting by Lucian Freud is expected to become the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction when it goes under the hammer next month.

The 1995 work, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, is estimated to fetch between $25m and $35m (£12.7m to £17.7m).

Freud painted Benefits Supervisor Sleeping back in 1995

The current auction record for a picture by a living artist is Hanging Heart, by Jeff Koons, which sold for $23.6m (£11.3m) in November 2007.

Freud’s painting has never been seen in public in the UK before. Read more

A 1937 first edition of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit has been sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for £60,000 - twice what it was expected to reach. The Hobbit was Tolkien’s most successful book, establishing his name as an author, and was a prequel to the longer Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Maps, photographs and manuscripts will also be sold at Bonhams in London.

The copy of The Hobbit is inscribed to Tolkien’s friend Read more