Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Trade traffic for bay of tranquillity
Vacant plot is on the West Coast where Vasco da Gama first set foot in South Africa in 1497
IRMA Stern and JH Pierneef produced the top prices at Strauss & Co’s spring auction in Cape Town on Monday that grossed sales of R55million. A peak-period Stern painting of
in a Rwandan landscape was the top lot, selling for R10.25m. Pierneef’s
a neo-impressionist rarity for the artist, surprisingly fetched R2.7m, four times more than its pre-sale estimate.
Pierneef’s more characteristic study of interlaced camelthorn trees in a landscape near Thabazimbi also fetched R2.7m. – Auctions Writer MICHAEL James Organisation (MJO) will on November 12 auction a 420m² vacant plot “on a private peninsula” at the sought-after location of St Helena Bay at Shelley Point, 150km north of Cape Town on the West Coast.
Paula Voges, who is handling the sale for MJO, says the plot at 12, 35th Street, Shelley Point, has access to three beaches and is situated in one of most picturesque and historic parts of the west coast.
It was at St Helena Bay that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama first set foot in South Africa in November 1497 and planted the first Christian cross in the southern hemisphere. Today, a statue stands on this historic spot. Reportedly, Da Gama found the bay “calm and tranquil” and these waters now provide excellent sailing, surfing and fishing opportunities.
Shelley Point Golf Estate, near the plot on auction, offers a 9-hole golf course and extensive leisure facilities. The challenging course has attractive greens and fairways winding through lush vegetation characteristic of the west coast. Small buck and a wide variety of bird species have made the course their homes.
The auction will take place at 63 Victoria Street, Somerset West. For more details, call Voges on 021 851 7007, email paula@michaeljames.co.za or see www. michaeljames.co.za. – Auctions Writer