It is impossible to predict what will happen in the future, but the last six years have been remarkable in the history of the South African art market and Strauss & Co has undoubtedly played a significant role.

A historic diamond brooch, belonging to Colonel Sir David Harris, pioneer of the South African diamond industry, director of de Beers, Barney Barnato’s first cousin and close friend of Cecil John Rhodes, will go under the hammer in Cape Town on Monday 16 March at Strauss & Co’s auction. Originally a gift from Colonel Sir David Harris to his wife, Rosa Gabriel of Pomerania (Prussia), whom he married in 1873, it is estimated to fetch R400 000 – 450 000.

Some of the very best in South African and international art is on offer at Strauss & Co’s upcoming auction on 16 March in Cape Town. These include key contemporary works by globally recognised artists such as Berlinde De Bruyckere, Nam June Paik, Huang Gang, Yayoi Kusama, William Kentridge and Penny Siopis.

Ed Young’s ‘Arch’ is flying high in the foyer of the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town. It will feature amongst some of the very best in South African and international art when it comes up for sale at an estimated R450 000 â?? 550 000 at Strauss & Co’s next auction.

Jacob Hendrik Pierneef’s painting of ‘The Maluti Mountains’ (1 200 000 â?? 1 600 000) at Strauss & Co’s upcoming auction on 16 March 2015 at the Vineyard Hotel, Newlands in Cape Town, tells a fascinating South African story. Not only is it a extraordinary painting from the period which Esmé Berman described as one of "discovery and mastery" but it was purchased by a remarkable man instrumental in developing South Africa’s educational and cultural institutions.

Alexis Preller’s Mapogga Wedding placed on auction by a major industrialist who developed a significant private collection of South African art through acquisitions made mostly in the 1970s and 80s.

On Monday afternoon, at 4pm, 16 March, an impressive collection of Africana will be offered on auction at Strauss & Co in Cape Town. Items include historic documents, books, sketches and diaries by Sir William Warre, William Daniell, William John Burchell, John Barrow, William Cornwallis Harris, Reverend Latrobe, and Mortimer Menpes.

In 1982 Stephan Welz sold Tretchikoff’s ‘Zulu Maiden’ at auction for R1700. On 16 March Strauss & Co, under direction of Stephan Welz, the work will once again see the saleroom, this time at an estimate of R1 900 000 – 2 200 000.

Mapogga Wedding (1952) finds Alexis Preller on the cusp between a relatively naturalistic depiction of his African subject and the investiture of that subject with mystical and hieratic properties and overtones.

Born in a shtetl outside Warsaw, Kibel left Poland in 1923 to avoid conscription. He initially settled in Vienna, but in 1925 relocated to Jerusalem, later moving to Tel Aviv, where he met Frieda. Dogged by financial hardship, Kibel immigrated to South Africa in 1929. He arrived alone, his pregnant wife despatched to Warsaw due to visa problems. Kibel’s arrival date in Cape Town coincided with the birth of Joseph, who would only come to South Africa three and a half years later with his mother.