Creators are a special breed and the man who invented the Décor brand and brought world-class design, creativity and innovation to Australian homewares, the son of an English adventurer and grandson of a pearl fleet owner on his mother’s side, is no exception.  

This unusual mix produced Great Depression child Brian Middleton Davis who was born in May 1930 in Broome, Western Australia before the family moved to Melbourne where Brian enjoyed a happy childhood designing and building model boats and billycarts at their Brighton home. 

Antique English furniture from Melbourne’s historic mansion Stonington, formerly owned by Menzies art auction house founder the late Rod Menzies, joins part two of the Pascoe collection of tea caddies, French antiques and Australian art at Christian McCann Auctions forthcoming sale from 12pm Sunday May 22 at 7 Harper Street, Abbotsford. 

Engineering and collecting appear to have been the two great loves of the late Lester Kingsley, who died in 2020 aged 95, and now his collection of stamps and postcards will be sold as part of Melbourne-based Leski Auctions forthcoming Stamps, Coins and Postal History sale from 12pm Tuesday May 10 at 727-729 High Street, Armadale.

Raised in a village in Sussex, England, Lester’s first collection as a boy was John Player cigarette cards featuring aircraft of the Royal Air Force.

Deutscher and Hackett’s forthcoming Important Australian and International Fine Art auction is like a roll call of Australian artist royalty.

Scheduled for 7pm Wednesday May 4 at 36 Gosbell Street in Sydney’s Paddington, the sale features 11 paintings with catalogue estimates of more than $100,000 – all featuring artists familiar to investors and collectors alike – and undoubtedly a reflection of the strength of the Australian art market during the COVID-19 pandemic.