PRESS RELEASE _____________________________________________23 OCTOBER 2009
Stephan Welz & Company's Spring sale concluded after four sessions spread over two days.
The sale totaled in excess of R15 million.
Once again paintings proved that good quality works, fresh to the market, sell well irrespective of the economic climate. The tempo was set right from the start when new world records were achieved by Bettie Cilliers-Barnard's 'Young Girl holding Pomegranates'. It was fiercely contested between two telephone bidders in the morning session
held on Tuesday. The painting estimate of R14 000 yielded a result of R291 200 ...more than 14 times its pre-sale estimate.
Further world records were established in the day's third session on Tuesday evening, with Keith Alexander's ''Buried Winston' going under the hammer at R246 400 and Stanley Pinker's 'Suntan' at R672 000). Pinker's popularity amongst collectors has been proven by the breaking of his record twice in the past two weeks.
A rare and unusual work by Anton van Wouw, 'Study of a Bullfrog', sold for R448 000. The
auction's frontispiece, JH Pierneef's 'Baobab, Bushveld, Messina', equalled
the South African record of R3 136 000 set in the same auction rooms a
year ago by Stephan Welz & Company.
Ian Hunter of the company's Cape Town Paintings Department commented, "many estimates were
surpassed with a strong showing of Contemporary and South African
Masters alike. The results are encouraging and overall proved that South
Africa is the true market for paintings of quality by South African artists."
Furniture sales showed a shift in the buyer's attention towards contemporary furniture.An Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair and Ottoman sold for R123 200. This strong sale mirrors the trend in painting sales where
Modern South African Masters like Stanley Pinker and Bettie Cilliers-Barnard have emerged triumphant at the auctions.
The fourth and final session of the auction saw new auctioneers Phillippa Duncan and Anton Welz achieve strong results for ceramic and silver highlights.
A charming Goldscheider figurine of a woman designed by Stefan Dakon sold for R15 960 against an estimate of R2 500 - R3 500. This item was competitively chased by bidders in the room and on the phone. Also offered was a Chinese Mughal-style jadeite teapot which made R15 680.
Silver proved popular with collectors in the morning session held on Wednesday. A Victorian silver mounted cut-glass claret jug reached R11 760 and a Chinese silver gallery tray by Wang Hing & Co R12 320, both selling for three
times their pre-sale estimates. A charming celestial globe by Johann Bernhard Bauer achieved R12 320.
These results round up most satisfactorily Stephan Welz & Company's Cape Town diary of auction sales for the year
and collectors, buyers and sellers alike, are already starting to anticipate items to feature in the first sale of next year, in february 2010. Already consigned is a magnificent inlaid commode dating from the 18th Century as well as portrait studies
by Alfred Neville Lewis.
Anton Welz, grandson of Jean Welz, finishes off by saying that the year has been stable yet punctuated with items of true quality that have proven their worth to collectors and sellers.
ENDS
For further information please contact our Cape Town office on 021 794 6461
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