Three high priced items should whet serious collector appetites at Sotheby’s Australia forthcoming jewellery auction from 5.30pm Tuesday May 12 at 41 Exhibition Street, Melbourne.

One is the extremely rare “Willows” 35.73-carat yellow sapphire pendant carrying a catalogue estimate of $100,000-$150,000.

Reportedly unearthed on August 14, 1946 in central Queensland by John Anderson, the sapphire’s extraordinary size places in an exclusive category and is the largest and finest Australian sapphire that the American Gemological Laboratories has examined to date.

The individuality of items in Mossgreen’s forthcoming Interior Decorator auction from 10.30am Monday May 11 at 926-930 High Street, Armadale is a great opportunity for collectors from all walks of life to obtain a piece of classic history.

Right from Lot 1, an 18^th century French Louis XV giltwood marble topped console table, collectors should be rubbing their hands in anticipation of some quality purchases.

Seashell collectors will have the chance to choose from a wide range of unusual specimens when Young’s Auctions next sale gets underway from 9.30am Friday May 8 at 229 Camberwell Road, East Hawthorn.

These rare auction items have been joined by a comprehensive collection of commemorative and other coins and desirable pieces of estate jewellery.

Paintings are another attraction along with a wide selection of antique and modern furniture.

Items include a rolltop desk, grand piano, sideboard, chest, couches and armchairs.

Colin McCahon’s work Paul to Hebrews 1980 is one of the more fascinating pieces of art to be auctioned from 7pm Wednesday May 6 by Deutscher and Hackett at 105 Commercial Road, South Yarra.

Comprising written passages from the Bible on three sheets of Steinbach paper using synthetic polymer paint, the painting is one of two biblical texts that dominated the final period of McCahon’s oeuvre (the first being a Letter to the Hebrews in the 1970s).