The estate of Karen Esposito, whose grandfather David Sterry in 1857 established the iconic Gold Mines Hotel in Bendigo, will be among 1900 lots to be auctioned from 11am Saturday April 19 and Sunday April 20 by Glenelg Auctions at 37 East Street, Daylesford.

Born in 1832 in Suffolk, England, David Sterry became a sailor and his adventurous spirit led him to seek gold in Australia.

In 1853, he arrived in Bendigo and three years later formed Luftsmann, Sterry and Company to begin quartz reefing on the rich Victoria Reef.

A silver medal presented in 1806 by the third Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, to Te Pahi, the first influential Maori leader to visit the fledgling colony, has recently been rediscovered after being lost for about 200 years.

It is one of Australia’s and new Zealand’s earliest and most significant colonial artefacts and will be a highlight of Sotheby’s Australia forthcoming Fine Asia, Australian & European Arts & Design auction from 6pm on Tuesday April 15 at the Intercontinental Sydney, 117 Macquarie Street, Sydney.

While most people associate miniature cameras with the likes of fictional British spy James Bond or the KGB and CIA, United States-born but Australian-based adventurer Willie Feinberg had just as practical a reason for their use.

They were small, light and sophisticated – ideal for his penchant for travelling the world and recording its many faces.

Born in 1935, Willie grew up in South Bronx – the only white kid in an all-black school in the bleak pre- World War II years of industrial America.

Ewart A. Wing was a Sydney collector whose passion for collecting was enhanced by the fact he met one of Royal Worcester’s leading artists David Peplow and the Australian artist Robert Dickerson.

A carpenter/builder who was adept at restoring antique furniture to near perfect condition (helped by his son Robert who was a French polisher), Ewart collected until his death 32 years ago, aged 63.