Strauss & co - 2017 Review

Market interest in objects of historical and aesthetic significance The decorative arts, which includes furniture, silver, ceramics and jewellery, are an important contributor to Strauss & Co.’s overall basket of offerings. Sales across all categories in 2017 totalled R23.1 million. While prices for canonical moderns continued to grab headlines, the biggest surprise of 2017 was undoubtedly registered in an afternoon session in March dedicated to the decorative arts. Rival bidders chased after two 19th century Imperial bushels – standardised brass measuring containers – offered by sister and brother collectors born into a local merchant family. An engraved bushel used by the government of the Cape of Good Hope was knocked down by auctioneer Susie Goodman for R1.87 million, eclipsing its presale estimates by a mile. A similar measure used by the Transvaal government, which carried a pre-sale high estimate of R80 000, sold for R1 045 856. The progress of these two sales was followed with rapt attention. The March sale produced many other surprise outcomes. Three stoneware vessels by Dame A Cape of Good Hope Imperial brass bushel, de Grave, Short & Co, London, 1877 Sold R1 875 720, 6 March 2017 A silver monkey table lamp, No. 2, Patrick Mavros, Harare, 9 September 1999 Sold R477 456, 6 March 2017 Lucie Rie all surpassed their high estimates, selling for R170 520, R215 992 and R341 040 respectively. Two silver table lamps designed by Zimbabwean silversmith Patrick Mavros, each incorporating a family of vervet monkeys and carrying an estimate of R300 000, sold for R477 456 and R443 352. A private collection of sixty-three Chinese snuff bottles made from agate, amber, amethyst, crystal, ivory, jade and porcelain attracted considerable international interest. A consolidated lot of five amber snuff bottles from the early 20th century sold for R54 567 nearly five times the high estimate, and three agate snuff bottles from the Qing Dynasty fetched R40 925, also well above the pre-sale estimates. 60