[1][2] The company began as Deutscher-Menzies in 1997, founded by entrepreneur Rod Menzies and art dealer Chris Deutscher.
[4] In September 2001, Rod Menzies purchased Lawsons, a well known Sydney based auction house, and founded Lawson-Menzies.
[5] While Lawson-Menzies initially specialised in collectibles, it soon entered the same high value art market as Deutscher-Menzies.
In the same boom year of 2007, Menzies sold Brett Whiteley's The Olgas for Ernest Giles for $3.48 million (including commissions).
[8] Rival auction houses accused Menzies of buying works through Menzies Art Brands auctions that he himself owned or co-owned, thus distorting the market by inflating sales figures, and subsequently giving the impression that the works were fresh to the market when they were resold.