The lure of collecting

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The lure of collecting ‘Collecting is much more exciting when you've taken the time to learn about the symbolism, the history, and the creators of your object d’art’.

1938 Mercedes-Benz 500K sold for R7.6 million

Ann Palmer, who heads up the paintings department at Strauss & Co auctioneers, believes that it is never too late to start an art collection. ‘There has been a meteoric rise in prices realised for South African art at auctions over the last 25 years. The market for the ‘Old Masters’, for example Irma Stern, Pierneef, Maggie Laubser, amongst others is now well established, and continues to perform well. However, we are seeing an impressive rise in prices for more recent artists, like Robert Hodgins, Stanley Pinker and William Kentridge, who have caught up and in some instances are even overtaking them. Younger people, who are entering the art market, are attracted to the more contemporary works by living artists, and the interest in art generally is on the increase. This is clearly demonstrated by the throngs of enthusiasts who attend the First Thursdays of the Month in Cape Town, when the art galleries stay open after hours’. Her advice is to buy the best that you can afford and what gives you pleasure, rather than be influenced by what other people are buying. It is really all about quality.

BY RICHARD WEBB

When I was five years old, a kind old aunt handed me a battered biscuit tin containing a motley collection of coins. It filled me with wonder, as I felt the serrated edges of coins from distant lands, as I wondered who had held them in their hands in the years before me – and what their stories may have been.

The seal was broken. I became an avid collector in my pre-teens, not just of coins, but stamps, comics and Dinky cars too. The hobby managed to exhaust the modest pocket money and paper-round income of that small boy. To this day, the world of collections continues to fascinate me.

I suppose there are two basic skills one needs to collect intelligently; the first is an ability to research, evaluate and buy the collectable that attracts you, the second is having the discernment to choose each item so as to form a meaningful grouping. Many of us know how to acquire collectables on an ad-hoc basis, but how about a detailed plan for making multiple acquisitions over time?

And then there’s an almost unlimited choice in subject matters and price ranges. That alone can be confusing, as well as intimidating.

What makes a collector great is the ability to separate out specific object d’art from the millions of pieces out there and curate them in such a way as to advance our understanding of that piece in particular or of the evolution of the genre in general. In any well-managed

collection, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and the collector comes to be regarded as a respected authority. In exceptional cases, they go on to set the standards and trends, as well as influence the future of collecting for others.

Alexis Preller, Red Angel, sold for R 2 842 000, March 2014

JH Pierneef, Extensive Landscape with Farmlands, sold for R 11 936 400, November 2014

It’s important to relate one purchase to the next, like the great collectors have done. Take the Rockefeller collection or the Saatchi collection, just to name two. Generally, collectors prefer to remain anonymous, but one of the largest South African car collections is the Franschhoek Motor Museum and it is open to the public. Among the many ‘jewels’ in this collection is a 1938 Mercedes-Benz 500K purchased for a cool R7,6 million a few years back from Stephan Welz & Co. and is now worth approximately R14 million.

In fact, a recent Frank Knight survey shows that within a ten-year period, the increase in the value of cars was higher than that of any other luxury collectable items. ‘Collectable cars are currently experiencing an upward trend both locally and globally. There has been a decreasing supply in good quality collectable cars due to most of them being bought up for museums and private collections.

This is why we have seen a climb in prices worldwide’, says Jack Rosewitz, Car Specialist at Stephan Welz & Co. William Kentridge, Iris, sold for R 2 955 680, November 2014

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Furniture collections can also be worth a lot of money. According to Vanessa Phillips, who is in charge of the Furniture Department at Strauss & Co, quality pieces, whether inherited or collected over a period of time, should continue to hold their value. However, fashions change and what was possibly once believed to be the prize piece in a collection due to its age, provenance and the type of timber used has been replaced by more modern contemporary pieces using leather, glass and chrome which are more appropriate to today’s life styles.

Victorian furniture has become less desirable in line with worldwide trends whereas Cape furniture has increased in value, particularly if it is adorned with Cape silver mounts. Strauss & Co still holds the record for the highest price paid for a piece of furniture at an auction, a mid 18th century Cape coromandel and silver-mounted buffet, which sold for R1 million in 2009.

An 18th century Cape coromandel and silvermounted buffet, sold R1 058 300, October 2009.

Younger collectors are attracted to the more modern furniture from the 20th century designers, particularly from the Scandinavian, French and Italian schools. Furniture by designers such as Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen, Herman Muller, Le Corbusier and the Memphis schools is highly collectable.

That said, now is a perfect time to buy ‘brown’ furniture as it can be mixed beautifully with modern pieces, which is helping to broaden our definition of what could reasonably be collected. If you expect to have any influence over the long-term future of your collection, start educating your family about what you own and make sure they are aware of the value and significance of your collection – and how important it is to you.

For really good examples of modern design, pay a visit to Eclectica in Buitengracht St in Cape Town, Minimalist in Simon’s Town or visit Jeremy Stephen Antiques in Parkhurst, Johannesburg where you can see wonderful examples of mid-century modern design.

Ultimately, any collector is just the temporary custodian of the works – and the longer you spend working on the collection, nurturing it, the more you will get attached. I have long ago lost that battered biscuit tin my aunt gave me. And what about my coins? Half a century later, I still have them, and a whole lot more besides.

Le Corbusier Style LC1 Strap Chair

The Concorso d’ Eleganza is perhaps the most significant gathering of all automotive collections globally, celebrating the mystique of historic cars, the 2015 event was amongst the most memorable I have been to.

Every year – on the banks of Lake Como at of one the world's leading hotels – the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este – the Concorso offers guests and visitors the chance to admire about 50 fantastically beautiful historic cars built between the 1920s and the 1970s, organised into different categories. An exclusive panel of judges led by president Lorenzo Ramaciotti judges for the Best of Show prize – the BMW Group Trophy – is reserved for that extraordinary automobile, which expresses beauty, passion and uniqueness.

This year’s event saw a magnificent display of unique and sensational BMW bodywork designs by artists such as Frank Stella, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.

The Jeff Koons BMW M3 GT2 was aesthetically reworked by the US artist and the car bears the racing number 79 – a tribute to the BMW M1 body work presented by Andy Warhol in 1979.

The striking colours of Koons’ Art Car exuded a boisterous sense of power, motion and energy.

It’s silly, I know, but I do hope they go to good homes, one day.

The first time a BMW was transformed into a work of art was in 1975 by Alexander Calder and was inspired by the French auctioneer and racing driver, Hervé Poulain, to produce the first ever BMW Art Car. The US artist only used primary colours and distributed them in broad swathes across the paintwork of the BMW 3.0 CSL.