Strauss & co - Review 2020

Navigating a year like no other In March 2020 South Africa entered a national lockdown due to the spread of the novel coronavirus known as Covid-19. The event heralded significant distress and change for individuals, communities and businesses, including Strauss & Co, its staff, partners and clients. Despite the business interruption caused by the pandemic, Strauss & Co forged ahead, introduced new hybrid modes of working and continued trading successfully. In its eleventh year of business, Strauss & Co sold its largest volume of lots, 4 916 items, earning a combined income of R316.6 million from 12 sales. Incredibly, given the – reorganisation of the company’s way of doing business during the pandemic, the 2020 turnover nearly matched the income of the previous year (R319.4 million). The lot sell-through rate also improved from 65.18% in 2019 to 76.25% in 2020. This solid performance in a time of homebound retreat and remote engagement speaks to the adaptability and integrity of Strauss & Co’s staff and business systems (in particular its digital strategy and infrastructure). The introduction of online- only auctions in 2013 provided the company with many lessons in hosting automated sales that made the accelerated pivot to a more digitised transactional environment in 2020 far less onerous for Strauss & Co. Seamless infrastructures do not conclude sales – people do. The 2020 results owe a great deal to the effortless migration by Strauss & Co’s clients to new digital modes of engagement and transaction. The company registered 6 700 new bidders in 2020, with nearly a third (30%) of the lots sold during the year going to new buyers. Gratifyingly, the geographical location of these buyers extended far beyond South Africa. While 2020 will undeniably be remembered for the distress and tumult it wrought, this momentous year also clarified some time-honoured market truths: • The secondary market is an important provider of liquidity in times of crisis. • A first-rate work offered at auction will attract bids. • Provenance is integral to the value of a lot. Wealth and taste is constantly changing, meaning new artists and categories of collectables will always rise to the fore. In 2020 Alexis Preller, JH Pierneef and Irma Stern once again topped the list of most-valuable works sold, confirming their bellwether status at auction, but there were also solid results posted by contemporary artists, among others, Nelson Makamo and Simphiwe Ndzube. The emergence of these two young artists – born in 1982 and 1990 respectively – ties into a broader story of transformation and diversification at Strauss & Co. In 2020 Strauss & Co experimented with its formats, for example hosting a cross-category sale of art, furniture and decorative arts in a single session as part of its November marquee sale. Strauss & Co also hosted a series of well-received thematic fine wine sales throughout the year, achieving excellent results – notably two white-glove sales in May and July. Strauss & Co also introduced contemporary South African ceramics as a new focus category for collectors in its November sale. This report surveys key trends in the trading year from January to December 2020. It begins by discussing the hybridised format of Strauss & Co’s marquee live sales amidst a pandemic, as well as the maturing role of its online-only sales. It is important to record the ways in which business changed in 2020, but it is equally important to acknowledge that the pandemic did not disrupt an age-old practice: collecting. Established items of value continued to be bought and sold. This report highlights key results in the three major categories covered by Strauss & Co: fine art, decorative arts and wine. It concludes with a brief overview of the company’s promotional activities and social responsibility initiatives. It is important to record the ways in which business changed in 2020, but it is equally important to acknowledge that the pandemic did not disrupt an age-old practice: collecting. Established items of value continued to be bought and sold. 11