The Milton and Alma Roxanas collection of Aboriginal art – that he began collecting in the 1980s after being introduced to Hogarth Galleries director and scholar Clive Evatt in Sydney – will be auctioned by Bonhams from 4pm on Sunday May 11 Byron Kennedy Hall in Moore Park.

Bonhams Aboriginal art specialists are confident the Roxanas collection will attract plenty of interest as it includes paintings by artists whose prices went through the roof when the auction house sold Clive Evatt’s comprehensive collection in November last year.

A full size billiard table and accessories from T. Sowerby & Sons of Liverpool in the United Kingdom will be an auction highlight for E.J. Ainger’s weekly sale from 9.30am on Tuesday May 6 at 433 Bridge Road, Richmond.

The table is part of a household of contemporary furniture and will complement the Georgian, Victorian, retro and 1920s furniture items up for auction.

The largest collection of Staffordshire dogs in Australia is set to be auctioned from noon on Sunday May 4 at Philips Auctions 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern.

The collection, which also includes several porcelain cats and lions, was owned by a Pennsylvanian woman whose son-in-law shipped it to Australia after she died.

According to antique trade experts, it is the biggest Staffordshire dog collection in living memory and contains several rare specimens from the 1850s to 1890s.

Never one to pass up a business opportunity, at age 60 the late Nancy Leeson decided to turn the family property, known as “The Poplars” in Bolwarra, into a successful tourism venture.

Born in 1911, she left Portland aged nine only to return in 1953 when her father retired and bought The Poplars that her uncle Charles Keiller and his family had lived in several years earlier.

Working the property as an orchardist, Nancy helped care for her disabled sister and ailing mother.