Archived

Strauss Online

4 Feb 2014

The first sale is scheduled to open on Monday 7 April and will close on Wednesday 23 April, consignments for the sale will close on Monday 24 March. The sale features a broad cross-section of high quality South African art including, amongst others, a luxurious colour screenprint by Walter Oltman (whose major retrospective exhibition opens at the Standard Bank Gallery later this month) entitled Cricket, estimated at R3 000 – 5 000; an exquisite colour screenprint by Penny Siopis entitled Le Cap de Bonne Esperanza, estimated at R8 000 – 12 000; and a highly impressive book ash and charcoal drawing on paper by Diane Victor entitled Nelson-Ash, Long Walk at R25 000 – 35 000. “We have an incredible cross-section of extremely desirable, top quality South African and International modern and contemporary art. There is surely something on this sale to suit every taste and style” says Stephan Welz, managing director of Strauss & Co.

There have been great developments with all aspects of the platform. The website has been revamped and the functionality has been dramatically improved.

Commission bids
Interested buyers will now be able to leave commission bids and the system will bid on a person’s behalf, automatically increasing the previous bid by one increment, until it reaches the maximum bid amount which has been indicated in the commission bid. This feature is automated and will advise the bidder by text message and email when their limit is reached.

Lot closing extensions
If bidders are competing for a particular lot and there is much activity on the lot in the last five minutes prior to the sale’s closing, the system will automatically extend the closing time of that lot by another two minutes to allow the bidders sufficient time to settle their match.

Extra images per lot
Each lot will now have a variety of images depicting various angles, detail shots, images with and without frame, recto and verso shots, as well as close-ups where available. This will give interested bidders an opportunity to thoroughly inspect any lot in which they may be interested, prior to placing their bids.

Usability
The functionality and appearance of the website has been dramatically improved. It is now much easier to navigate the sale, find images or jump to lots of particular interest.

Bid summary
Lots on which a bidder has left bids, irrespective of whether theirs is the highest bid, are summarised on a single page so that the particular bidder can monitor the progress of these lots with the greatest ease. This page will link directly to each lot should the bidder wish to review or increase any of those bids.

System notifications
The system will advise you when you have been outbid, irrespective of the bid type. For your convenience, these notifications will be sent via text message and email.

Results
Provisional results of the sale will be available immediately after bidding closes on the last lot.

The whole product has been streamlined and enhanced to meet with the highest international standards and greatest user friendliness, in keeping with Strauss & Co.’s position as the global leaders in South African art.

For further information please contact:
Ruarc Peffers – ruarc@straussart.co.za
Jacqui Carney – jacqui@straussart.co.za

Media Liaison
Bina Genovese

bina@straussart.co.za
Tel: +27 21 683 6560
Website: www.straussart.co.za