An historic Hawthorn mansion at 31 Shakespeare Grove is the setting for E.J. Ainger’s special December sale from 11am Sunday December 3.

The owners have sold the property and have instructed Aingers to sell the contents to which the auction house has added items retained over the past six months from several estates.

Among the items for auction is a strong representation of works by leading Australian artists including Pro Hart’s Races, Hugh Sawrey’s The Rabbiter and His Missus and Mustering Into The Shed and a J.H. Scheltema oil on canvas.

Interesting silver objects, old military helmets and copper ware are among the attractions at E.J. Ainger’s forthcoming weekly auction from 9.30am Tuesday November 28 at 433 Bridge Road, Richmond.

Added to the mix are French and English mantel and carriage clocks and a mahogany case grandfather clock.

Auction goers no doubt will be impressed with the marble bust of Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI, both of whom were beheaded during the French Revolution.

A 6.49 carat diamond ring with a $120,000-$140,000 estimate could be the ideal Christmas gift for the woman who appreciates classic beauty at Mossgreen’s forthcoming Jewels & Watches auction from 2pm Monday November 27 at 926-930 High Street, Armadale Victoria.

Made of 18-carat white gold and accompanied by a GIA diamond grading report dated November 22, 2006, the ring appears on the catalogue cover and is the obvious highlight of the sale.

The Leonard Joel fine art catalogue highlights the range of paintings on offer at its forthcoming auction from 6.30pm Tuesday November 28 at 333 Malvern Road, South Yarra.

The catalogue – which covers several art categories from modern classics to Aboriginal, contemporary and timeless collectors – features Hans Heysen’s (1877-1968) Summer Lights, Flinders Ranges 1933 and Young Girl by Emmanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915), both from a private collection.

Mossgreen’s fine art auction from 6.30pm Monday November 27 at 926-930 High Street, Armadale features works by British painter David Thomas Rose (1871-1964) – an unsung hero of watercolour painting.

A civil engineer by profession, in 1904 and 1907 Rose made two of the most influential journeys of his artistic life.

The first was a post in the Harbour of Valetta, Malta. On his way there, he sailed through the Mediterranean Sea, calling in at Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

For those auction goers unable to make the Mossgreen jewellery auction on Monday November 27, Leonard Joel is holding its own jewellery sale from 6.30pm the same day at 333 Malvern Road, South Yarra.

The most expensive Leonard Joel auction items include a rare loose pink rubellite (lot 264 – estimate $150,000-$170,000), an impressive multi-strand emerald and diamond necklace (lot 114 - $100,000-$150,000), a three-stone diamond ring (lot 142 - $100,000-$140,000) and a solitaire diamond ring (lot 98 – $60,000-$80,000).

Long-time collector John Wade, who for many years has frequented Melbourne auction rooms, has asked Christian McCann Auctions to sell his collection at its forthcoming sale from noon Sunday November 26 at 426 Burnley Street, Richmond.

The collection joins a Parkville estate and a private estate of fine boulle furnishings, salon clocks and bronzes among the more than 600 items on offer at the auction.

Red River Gum has been used to make what could possibly be a unique example of Australian colonial furniture.

The timber has been used in the construction of an early 19^th century breakfront bookcase in the English Regency Gothic style fashionable in the 1830s and 1840s.

Part of a domestic estate from the Adelaide coastal suburb of Semaphore, Glanville and handed down through three generations, the bookcase was probably made during the acrimonious governorships of Lt Colonel Sir George Gawler and Captain George Gray from 1838-1845.

Mark Eddy was thrilled when he won the 2011 Australian GT Championship in an Audi R8 LMS he brought specially from Europe.

It was the first time Audi had won a national championship anywhere in the world and the first time this particular model had been off the Continent.

For Eddy, it was his second taste of victory in the event – having won the 2008 Australian GT Championship in a Lamborghini GT3 Gallardo.

While eye-catching sculptures in the grounds of Rod Menzies spacious Stonington Mansion greeted guests as they arrived for Melbourne’s special guest viewing of Menzies forthcoming Australian & International Fine Art & Sculpture auction, the usual display of major art works on easels in the foyer was notably absent.