Press Office
2010 Archive
- Dec 01. Chairman's Review 2010
- Dec 01. Voorsitters Oorsig
- Nov 12. A sparkling array
- Nov 01. Art market grabs investor's imagination and opens pockets at Strauss & Co Auction
- Oct 19. Millions for South African Paintings
- Oct 18. Strauss & Co set a new record for South African art
- Oct 11. New record for South African art
- Sep 23. Top South African Paintings at Strauss & Co's October Auction
- Aug 31. Pierneef attracts wide interest
- Aug 30. Ruth First and Lilian Ngoyi Celebrated in Artwork at Auction
- Aug 03. Jewellery Week at Strauss & Co
- Jul 23. Another Irma Stern Still Life Poised to Break Auction Records
- Jul 23. Valuation Day at The Marine, Hermanus
- Jun 26. Stanley Pinker's, The Wheel of Life, 1974, to be offered for sale in Cape Town on 11 October 2010
- Jun 25. Forthcoming Cape Town Auction
- May 30. Rhodes statue led Welz to success
- May 25. Four South African Still Lifes sell for R22 million
- May 18. Auction of Important South African, British and Continental Paintings and Sculpture
- May 10. Maud Sumner – "a sound investment"
- May 03. Important work by Deborah Bell on auction at Strauss & Co, Johannesburg, 24 May 2010
- May 02. Artists with a passion for Africa
- Mar 25. Irma Stern - Still Life with Dahlias and Fruit
- Mar 16. "Bad News" proves to be good news
- Feb 08. Anton Van Wouw - Bad News
- Feb 08. Jane Alexander - Racework
- Feb 01. Edith Dodo Estate Collection
Delighting and dealing in art
July 27, 2010 [ Archived ]
The antique road show came to Grahamstown last week where Strauss & Co directors Stephan Welz and Vanessa Phillips appraised the art and antiques of community members at the Observatory Museum. Grocott's Mail had two pieces evaluated; Jeff Grocott's antique display cabinet and Louise Vale's chandeliers, which currently hang in the Grocott's Mail building.
Discovering Local Gems...Fleur Way-Jones, curator of the Albany History
Museum poses with Stephan Welz and Vanessa Phillips, Strauss & Co directors
in the Observatory Museum. Strauss & Co acquired a landscape painting by
Eastern Cape artist John Brown for auction. Photo: Theresa Taylor
Welz likens what they do to being in a casino; you never know what you are going to find. Last year, an Eastern Cape local had a piece auctioned off for R2.3 million.
This was one of four large bronze sculptures entitled Bad News created by Anton van Wouw in 1907, which the seller's father purchased from the artist.
"The antique road show provides a service to the community. Many people have no interest in selling but simply want to know what their belongings are worth," says Welz. From the 150 items appraised in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, only eight paintings where selected for auction.
Community members must give a compulsory donation of R15 for each item that the appraisers evaluate. This money is handed over to local museums for their much needed upkeep.
Despite some 70 years combined experience between Welz and Phillips, she insists that she learns new things everyday and modestly adds, "Most collectors know more, or as much, as we do." Phillips encourages pieces to be sold within the area they were created as it is historically correct to keep them in their original context.
Welz, who has tried to retire, keeps being drawn back to his job. "A very small percentage of people who get up in the morning are enthusiastic," said Welz, "I'm one of those people." His credentials include an antique television show during the 80's and a stint as director of Sotheby's auctioneers in London.
Two years ago Welz and two friends, former Standard Bank chairman Dr Conrad Strauss and former Toyota SA manager Elisabeth Bradley, "crawled out of retirement" and began Strauss & Co. The comapny is currently the largest fine art and antiques auctioning house in South Africa.
