Nama has confirmed international auction house Christie’s will sell 14 paintings in November from the collection of one of the agency's debtors.

Last month it was confirmed Christie’s was chosen to sell the paintings, which were formerly owned by developer Derek Quinlan.

The collection is worth about €2.2 million at the top end of guide prices, Christie’s said, although Nama has had them  independently valued at about €1.7 million.

The paintings by Irish, British and American artists will be auctioned at two events taking place in New York on November 9th and London on November 17th. The proceeds used to pay down some of Mr Quinlan's debts, which have been taken over by Nama.

The list includes works by leading Irish artists Paul Henry, Jack B Yeats and Roderic O'Conor, and by other artists including Alex Katz and Andy Warhol.

The Warhol piece, entitled Dollar Sign, has a guide price of up to $600,000 (€439,000). A second ironically titled piece in the sale is Man Doing Accounts by Jack Butler Yeats.

"It's quite interesting offering pieces from Nama," a spokesman for Christie's said. "We did a sale from Lehman's bank and it was a fantastic sale, it had great results. It can offer an element of extra interest.

"They are all well established artists and well recognised," a spokesman said. "It's a good cross section of 20th century art."
Mr Quinlan – a former tax inspector with the Revenue – spent millions of euro acquiring works of art at auction and from art dealers in Ireland and London over the past 15 years. Individual valuations show most have dropped sharply in value – in some cases by 60 per cent – since they were bought. For example, Mr Quinlan paid £540,000 (€615,000) to a dealer in New Bond Street, London, for an abstract painting by William Scott in 2007. It has now been valued at just €200,000.

Christie's will auction three paintings in New York and the other 11 in London in two separate sales on November 9th and 17th.