When the latest sale results at Sotheby's
South Africa sale in Johannesburg ( 6 November ) are scrutinised, one has to
wonder why some of these results are disappointing. Even
with their recent Cape Town Auction on the 17th October 2000, it was clear that
some lots sold for less than at previous
sales. Everybody then waited for the Johannesburg sale to clarify
what was happening.
Although there were 467 Lots
of South African art, which included seven works by Maggie Laubser and 10 by
Irma Stern, the buyers were cautious and
seemed
more conscious of what they were buying and at
what price.
Morning newspaper "
Beeld ", 30 October 2000, predicted that record prices were
expected. This was proven incorrect, as only two lots fetched record prices
compared to results of previous
sales. At this auction a work, by Walter Battiss, " African Paradise
", went for R 240 000 ( hammer price ) and a major work by Maud
Sumner, " Chess ", went for R 400 000. The highest price
paid for a Maggie Laubser was R 150 000( hammer price ) and the highest
price for a work by Irma Stern was R 640 000( hammer price )
People attending the auction were
restless and the overall atmosphere was one of
uncertainty. There could be numerous reasons for the disappointing
prices for certain lots. The financially
inclined buyers would like to believe that the current
negative state of
our financial markets influenced bidding,
but if one talks to the serious dealers in fine art they would like one to
believe that the quality of the available lots were not exceptional and also
that there were too many lots by the same artist on auction . According to
others it seems
like everybody is putting their heirlooms
onto the market in the hope that they would get the same record prices that
works fetched in the past.
Looking back in
perspective it is clear that it was a buyers market and that the sellers
came second best. Regarding
the state of the art markets abroad, it seems that the same is happening
globally. Although a rare work by Picasso went for a new record price
of R 368 milion at Christie's recent sale
at the Rockefeller Centre in the USA, the overall feeling there was
also of extreme caution and only 42%
of all lots on offer were sold.
It seems that works of
exceptional quality are fetching higher prices than ever but for the rest it seems like the buyers are
far more
selective.
! 
