Online auctions are gaining popularity, but the
traditionalists are still sold on the idea of live auctions that guarantee a
good show, with emotions and bids running high.



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In an industrialized area approximately 30 minutes from
Sandton, the commercial hub of Johannesburg, is a shining fleet of trucks,
parked and ready to be sold to the highest bidder. 



The sun reflects off the windshields in the direction of the
registered bidders as they sit under red outdoor umbrellas at the entrance of
the property.&nbsp; 



Some opt for refreshments, while others make small talk with
their competition.



A man uses this time to make phone calls to a mechanic, who
discourages him from making a regrettable bid on a “non-runner”.



He runs towards the towering fleet of trucks, where he joins
the eager buyers as they take a final peek before the auction begins. 



We are at Aucor Auctioneers’ popular commercial auction, at
their head office in Midrand.



After spending four hours traveling to Johannesburg from
Nelspruit (in South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province), for the auction, Charles
Malibe gets into a heated bidding war that lasts no longer than a minute but is
packed with plenty of fervent action.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="930" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc7.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41344" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc7.png 930w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc7-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc7-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc7-768x509.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 930px) 100vw, 930px" /><figcaption>Charles Malibe in a heated bidding war for a truck. Picture: Gypseenia Lion</figcaption></figure></div>



It is noon and an overjoyed Malibe has just won a R465,000
($32,401) bid on a second-hand truck. 



“I attended my first auction three years ago. Sometimes you
get it wrong and sometimes you get the right stuff at the right price. It is
good to be exposed to new things. I went to Durban once, but I did not get
anything there. It was not a waste. It is not only about getting things, it
gives you exposure,” he says. 



As Malibe heads back to Nelspruit, the auctioneer remains
chanting until the last vehicle is sold, with the crowd getting smaller with
each purchase.



Wasim Babamia, Aucor Auctioneers’ multimedia consultant,
manages the national marketing for the 51-year-old auctioneering company. 



Digitalization has disrupted traditional norms of
advertising, and has made the industry more accessible for both buyers and
sellers.&nbsp; 



“Selling any asset boils down to supply and demand. The
advantage of buying in an auction is cutting out the middleman, saving that
money and getting something of real top value,” he says. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="927" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41345" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc5.png 927w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc5-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc5-600x399.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc5-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 927px) 100vw, 927px" /><figcaption> Wasim Babamia, Aucor Auctioneers’ multimedia consultant. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></div>



&nbsp;Marketing the call to
action remains a vital component for the business.&nbsp; 



“Social media has to be on point when we market a particular
auction,” Babamia says.



Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are some of the biggest
platforms, apart from the traditional pamphlets and website advertising
strategies. 



According to Babamia, online bidding has pulled in more
numbers over the past four years. 



He sees a rapid transformation in the auctions landscape in
the foreseeable future. 



According to a South African Institute of Auctioneers (SAIA)
report, Gauteng is the highest province of interest with over 6,000 potential
buyers (for all kinds of auctions including residential properties, retail
vehicles, jewelry and collectables) on its website, while the Northern Cape is
the lowest with just over 1,000 buyers. 



The traditional means of auctioning have had to make way for
digital platforms that have been steadily increasing over the last decade. 



SAIA records close to 100,000 visitors to online auctions in
2010; the first half of 2019 is already at 400,000 visitors. 



Last year’s record 600,000 visitors reflect that the online market could be just as lucrative as the live auctions. 



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As the state of the South African economy remains uncertain,
Babamia suggests that auctioneering will always provide a cheaper option to
consumers. 



An industry that has been in existence for more than 2,000
years continues to grow despite its many iterations over the years. 



Ancient Greek records on auctions dating as far back as
500BC show women were auctioned off to become wives. 



Auctions were popular for family estates and the selling of
war plunder in Rome. 



As a result of the great depression in the 1900s, the United
States opened auction schools to generate income as businesses and individuals needed
to liquidate assets to withstand the economic crisis.



In recent times, market trends have changed dramatically to
adapt to socioeconomic norms. 



A shift to online auctioneering has been a great development
and contributor to the fluid industry.



&nbsp;Orbis Research
reports that the global online auction market is expected to grow during the
period 2018-2022 with a 7.2% compound annual growth rate. 



“Another major trend witnessed in the online auction is the
immense impact of artificial intelligence (AI). AI’s main role in an online
auction is to perform different tasks such as processing internal operations,
customer-service inquiries, delivery and product packaging. In the last years,
AI has instigated a gradual shift, from conventional auction to online auction,”
the report states. 



The increase in sales of art-based goods through online
auctions is a key market driver. 



Traditional live auctions, however, are still a preferred
option for bargain-hunters, despite the global steer towards digitalization. 



This is according to fine art specialist Luke Crossley who
manages Stephan Welz &amp; Co. in the affluent northern suburb of Johannesburg,
Houghton Estate.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="416" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41346" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc4.png 416w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc4-300x445.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc4-202x300.png 202w" sizes="(max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px" /><figcaption> Fine art specialist Luke Crossley who manages Stephan Welz &amp; Co. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></div>



Moving to simpler models will improve the industry by
providing a greater competitive edge, he says. &nbsp;



“There is a growing interest and understanding of auctions
across a broad section of people where, maybe, a couple of decades ago it was
seen as just for the very rich people doing very rich things. 



“People are realizing that it is a great way of finding
weird and beautiful objects, artwork and furniture at quite reasonable prices,”
he says. 



The increase of auction houses in South Africa offers a
variety to buyers and sellers, with SAIA having 80,546 members registered by
April 2019. As a result, the art and design market is at an advantage. 



“The South African art market on auction is always evolving
and broadening. The importance to history and art history is being realized and
there is a growing interest and demand for these. It is encouraging a lot of
the younger artists working with galleries to look at the history and heritage
of artistic practice in this country,” Crossley says. 



“With growing appreciation for South African and African art
overseas, a couple of international houses based in England regularly do sales
of more historical work. The audience overseas means a lot for the artists, the
country and the future.” 



Selling or buying art on auction engages the audience as
well as the creator. 



“The gallery, thus, becomes the primary market where young
artists can build their careers; whereas auctions and private individuals with
a passion for art can sell work they own, re-invest in other artists, or buy. 







“It creates a second life for an artist once they have had
their exhibition. With an auction house, you can reach a broader audience.
Auctioneering is a great way of indirectly promoting the artist,” says the art
specialist.&nbsp; 



A mobile museum acts as a platform that simplifies the
process and eases access to the market for artists and admirers. 



A world of opportunity, at the click of a button, gives
upcoming artists a chance to compete in the art market. 



Art lovers can sit in the comfort of their homes, evaluate the work before-hand, request for condition reports and place a bid while monitoring the action on screen.



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“Auction houses, historically, would work with physical
catalogues. We still do catalogues but with the possibility now to create an
app for the auction house to allow interaction directly with the audience. 



“It seems simple now with email, but previously, you would
write a letter and take a photograph and get it delivered. Now, there is an
ease of communication,” Crossley says. 



On the other end, Jerry Horn from AuctionInc. argues that
despite the digital migration in South Africa, live auctions are still the
safest and simplest way for auctions to take place. 



Online platforms also lack interpersonal interaction. 



At the moment, live auctions are still more popular, he
says. 



“Online auctions are impersonal, you wait till the time is
up and if you get it, you get it, if you don’t, then you don’t. There is no
emotion attached to it. Live auctions still create the hype… humans are
emotional creatures,” Horn says. 



We meet Horn and fellow broker Disa Smuts at a three-bedroom
house which is being auctioned for R1.5 million ($105,301) at an upmarket
security estate in Pretoria called The Wilds Security Estate.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="927" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41347" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc6.png 927w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc6-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc6-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc6-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 927px) 100vw, 927px" /><figcaption> Disa Smuts. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></div>



Buyers meander in and out of the house as they assess the
property. They pry further as they look through windows, open cupboards and
check light fixtures, along with all the other fittings of the house. 



Bidding begins as the amount crescendos to the millions. 



Finally, a buyer who is pleased with the finishing of the
house, makes the highest bid at R1.5 million and this bid concludes the auction
for the home, as the final hammer drops.



This is a success for the auctioneer and a gloomy moment for
latecomers who only have the luxury to dawdle in the empty rooms they could
have owned. 



Hennie Swart arrived at the double-storeyed home just after
the conclusion of the auction, and he was not going to let this bargain slip
through his fingers. 



A counter bid amounting to R1.8 million ($130,654) makes him
next in line if the first deal does not take place for any reason.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Swart, who is a property developer, says purchasing on auction offers a discount of 10% to 20% less than market value. 



Today’s offer is a cheaper buy than Swart’s most expensive
purchase of R2.1 million ($147,428) for a three-bedroom home. 



“I have got a property portfolio and I try to expand my
portfolio by buying property on auction. I normally look at simplexes that are
normally safer because the possibility of getting a tenant is higher,” he says.




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Attending live auctions gives him a first-hand experience of
the area, the property and the potential return on investment.&nbsp; 



A common practice Horn encourages. 



Online bidding may be convenient but competition on the
floor is good for business, and it puts on a good show. 



Bids increase by the second. 



Four figures speedily turn into six figures. 



The auctioneer chants vigorously while his focus is fixed on
the audience. 



Sweat drips from his nose, and all the attention is directed
to a woman at the back of the room. 



The room falls dead silent.



“And sold to the woman in the far right!” 



The audience cheers on, as she graciously leaves the room.



It is this fervent excitement that people enjoy.



Time and competition are the most important factors to
prioritize in this business.&nbsp; 



The aim is to spend less while encouraging
competitiveness.&nbsp; 



“You don’t have ‘show days’ that take up time, and with a
six-week [administrative] process before the auction date, people come and bid
and the property is sold on the day. 



“People bid against each other to get what they want. Most
of the time you get more money than what you are asking for,” Horn says.



South Africa’s market, promising as it is, has room for
development. 



“If you go to countries like Australia and New Zealand,
there are no ‘show days’, there are no real estate agents, everything is done
by the auction basis,” Horn says. 



This cuts out the middleman, and thus minimizing costs,
making the purchase more lucrative for the buyer. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="927" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41348" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc2.png 927w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc2-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc2-600x399.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Auc2-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 927px) 100vw, 927px" /><figcaption>A bidder places a bid for an item on auction. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></div>



Whereas in South Africa, there are other factors to
consider, such as real estate agent commissions, bonds and prime lending rates
which make the process arduous and more expensive for the buyer.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Horn frequently travels to Angola, Tanzania, Zambia and
Kenya for business. 



“Property is a lot more expensive up there because it is
dollar-related,” he says. 



The economic climate of a particular region or area
determines the value of property. 



Property auctioning depends largely on adequate research and
comprehension of the landscape. 



Buyers often become sellers after acquiring an understanding
of the industry. 



Smuts, who sold her 18-year-old business on auction, decided
to become an auctioneer herself.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



The uncomplicated nature of transactions is what attracted
her, she says. 



However, clients usually call when their property has been
on the market for too long and the asking price becomes too high for the
market. 



“The owner will give a sole mandate to give a right for the
sale of the property and make sure that it goes to the market correctly. The
auction is done on the day, and make sure it gets the highest price. The
auctioneer’s job is to protect the property’s value,” she says. 



Protecting the interests of all parties involved should be
the auctioneer’s priority, Smuts adds.



&nbsp;Whether you’re buying
from the comfort of your home while basking in the sun by your swimming pool,
or you just lost out at a live bid, chances are, it can’t get any cheaper than
at an auction.&nbsp;

auc8

Going Once, Going Twice! The Evolution Of Auctions

Lot 234, the Preller, Space Angel, signed and dated ’71, oil and gesso on canvas.
“I have three million one hundred thousand. Three two, thank you. Three four, three five, six, seven, eight, nine, four million. Four million two hundred thousand with you, four million four, four six, yes, I saw that nod, go ahead, five. Now five two, five four, five six, I’m at the back of the room now, she’s got it at five eight, it is with you madam, at five million eight hundred thousand rand, at five eight, all done? This is fair warning, I’m going to sell it …”
Bang, goes his gavel on the desk. “Your number please?” asks auctioneer Dendy Easton in his plummy British accent. We are at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg on November 7, 2016.
It has taken one minute, 40 seconds for somebody to spend R5.8 million ($440,000) for Alexis Preller’s painting. There is scattered applause.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4643" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/original-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
“Lot 235, the Edoardo Villa …”
Bidding continues for nearly 300 lots until the final one, Lot 293, a Keith Alexander painting, goes for R360,000 ($27,000).
There is a lot of money in art, and a lot of it in this particular room. Here in Johannesburg, among these bidders, the South African economy looks pretty robust. Apartheid  marginalized South African artists, which means that collectors from China to New Zealand, America to Britain, South America to Europe, are now greedy for South African art. Greediest of all, it seems, are South Africans themselves. While the country’s economy may be stressed, the wealthy have cash for pretty things to hang on their walls. A lot of it.
Of course there are good artists in Africa. Some of the best from the continent are South African.
“The fact that there is so much money for art now is to some extent because we were marginalized. And our artists are good. Very good,” says Emma Bedford, Senior Art Specialist and a Director of Aspire Art Auctions.
“We have a history of good art schools in this country. The rest of Africa doesn’t,” interrupts Ruarc Peffers, the tall, suave and experienced auctioneer of Aspire, a brand new South African auction house that on Halloween night in Johannesburg sold over $2.2-million’s worth of South African art, at an auction a week before the big Strauss one. Discovery boss Adrian Gore is a major Aspire investor, as is Brian Joffe of Bidvest.
It’s a funny business, art collection and auctions.
Frank Kilbourn, Executive Chairman of the biggest and oldest South African auction house, Strauss &amp; Co, which sold the Preller mentioned above, tells me he is reluctant to tell people art is an investment. “But it is,” he adds. “If you bought South African art a decade or two or three ago, you have made a lot of money, or could make if you sell now.”
“The whole world is waking up to our art. It is reaching record prices. If you did invest, you made money. But that’s not what art is all about.”
It is about appreciation, culture, civilization, aesthetics, collecting, pride, knowledge, historicity, philosophy.
To show just how the market is booming, Kilbourn, who has separate degrees in law, commerce and philosophy, explains that three huge new galleries are being built in South Africa.
In Cape Town there is Zeitz MOCAA (Museum for Contemporary Art in Africa) at the Waterfront – old grain silos with a five-star hotel on top of an eight-story gallery; Javett is being built in Pretoria, in collaboration with the University of Pretoria, and the third is a private one being built at Steenberg in the Cape.
“This is a wonderful thing for the country, and for art,” Kilbourn, a collector himself, says with a happy smile. His team tell me I mustn’t fail to mention that their auction in Cape Town earlier this year realized $4.2 million, the second highest ever for an art auction. “And that’s in Cape Town!”
At the Strauss auction in Johannesburg exactly a week after Aspire’s auction, Kilbourn buys two paintings himself. One is an Erik Laubscher Still Life with Pumpkin Slice which was expected to reach R300,000 ($22,000) to R400,000 ($30,000).
At R400,000 the auctioneer pauses, Kilburn just nods, “420?” Easton looks around the room … “430!” he says triumphantly. There is another bidder, bidding against Kilburn. Now it is rapid fire from the auctioneer, finger pointing left then right, like watching tennis at Wimbledon: “440, 480; 500, 520; 550, 580; 600, 620; 650, 680; 700, 720; 750, 780; 800… 820. Fair warning… R820,000, I’m going to sell it, here in the second row.”
Bang goes Easton’s gavel. In half a minute, the price doubled.
While interviewing Kilbourn after the auction he greets somebody mischievously, giving him a big smile, asking “Were you the bastard pushing me up on the Laubscher? I thought you were my friend?”
Small auction rival Aspire has been in business since July this year. They are a chip off the older Strauss house, for which most of them worked. The four Aspire art specialists have qualifications in fine art, art history, art theory, criticism and curating.
Aspire Auctioneer Ruarc Peffers, a graduate of the famous Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town, tells me he has done “Oh, over 100 auctions” in his career, but the Johannesburg one was his first for Aspire. He describes how it is “left foot, right foot” stuff: the auctioneer must ensure he has the momentum on his side, as he goes up in about ten percent increases.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4642" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/22978_1-300x247.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="247" />
In South African law the auction house is allowed to bid, so one of the auctioneer’s tasks is to get the bid to a real bidder, not the house. There are a bunch of bidders on phones from New York, Australia, even New Zealand – and they are not ex-South Africans, he says. Plus there are internet bids being controlled by Aspire staff member Rafael Powell. Hunched over his computer, every now and then he lifts his bidding number to bid for somebody on the net, who is bidding from somewhere on the planet to get South African art.
If the reserve price is in the millions, the auctioneer goes up in hundreds of thousands.
Estimates in the catalogue usually have the reserve price as the bottom estimate. If that’s not reached, the item is not sold. Although the auctioneer ‘closes’ at say R450,000, if the ‘estimate’ was R500,000 to R1 million, the item is probably going to remain with its owner.
After the auction a lot of buying and selling activity takes place, people making offers, bringing down reserve prices, offering to buy an already bought item. Frenetic stuff for staff for the 24 hours after the final hammer falls.
I went to both auctions, a week apart, one by Strauss and one by Aspire.
Emma Bedford says: “Modernist artists on our sale who performed best included JH Pierneef, Hugo Naudé, Alexis Preller, Edoardo Villa, Erik Laubscher and Douglas Portway. But what really excited us was how well the contemporary artists did, many breaking records. Like photographers David Goldblatt and Pieter Hugo, as well as artists Peter Schütz, William Kentridge, Diane Victor and Athi-Patra Ruga.”
The top Preller on Aspire’s sale Profiled figures (Mirrored Images) reached $468,000 on the auction.
I ask the Aspire auctioneer: “Why don’t you say something about the painting during the auction? You only say ‘Lot 14, the Irma Stern. I have a bid of 500 (thousand)’ but nothing about the work?”
He says: “Bidders know the works, there were three days of viewing, they have the catalogue. And you only have about three minutes for each lot, otherwise ‘bidders’ fatigue’ sets in, and you don’t want that. We did 121 lots in two hours.”
At the Strauss auction, I realize how right he is. I find myself nodding off when we get to lots 260, 270, 280.
Lot 249, a Preller Woman with Red Hair goes for R2 million ($150,000) although it was expected to only reach R200,000 ($15000), and Lot 248, another Preller, Revelation which was expected to get R400,000 ($30,000) goes for R2.4 million ($180,000) to a telephone bidder. A tiny Preller painting, Ritual Bull, only 7.5cmx9cm, goes for R550,000 ($41,000).
Strangely enough, the real star of the Strauss auction, the so-called lost Preller Adam – a heavy piece of art the size of a big coffin, absolutely exquisite in my untutored opinion, goes for a bid of only R6 million ($450,000), a huge bargain. (Commission of about  $59,000 will be added to the price the bidder will actually pay.)
“This was the wrong audience for that work. It is a museum piece, not really for a public auction,” Kilburn shrugs and says. It was expected to reach $490,000 to $680,000.
This is a world of wealthy people, who acquire art to enjoy it on their walls, invest in it, and show it off. Their disposable income is serious money. Strange then, after watching these folk jump up bidding in hundreds of thousands of rands without blinking an eye, to hear them in the Wanderers’ parking lot debating whether to give the car guard a R5 coin or a R10 note.

Art For Art’s Sake – but give us your Cash

It was like a scene from a Hollywood movie in the African bush. A helicopter hovered in the bright morning sun before swooping on a patch of long grass. A stocky man in a khaki cap, short-sleeve shirt and shorts, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, emerged with a walk to equal the power of his arrival. This is the game auction business. The man was Waltie van der Walt, a game farmer and wildlife breeder in the Limpopo province, in the north of South Africa. In this business, Van der Walt is the lion of the jungle. He strides to the auction through a fleet of Land Rovers, 4&#215;4 double-cabs; the trappings of a multi-million-dollar business.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3888" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Animal-Auction-062-1024x681-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
In Limpopo wildlife auctions, Van der Walt is a kingpin with a large wallet. He is the founder and owner of Superior Game Breeders (SGB) on the Oorlogsfontein Game Ranch in Mokopane, Limpopo. You could argue he commands auctions as much as bids. Such is his standing that he doesn’t even deign to enter the auction. For the duration of his bidding, Van der Walt merely leans through the doorway.
Chere du Toit, a manager at Aucor Wildlife Auctions, likens him to fellow game buyers Johann Rupert, one of the richest men in Africa, and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s deputy president. Ramaphosa put game auctions in the news with his attempt to buy a buffalo cow and its calf in Rustenburg, in the North West province of South Africa, in 2012. He lost to farmer, Boet Troskie, who paid around R20 million ($1.6 million). Ramaphosa later apologized to the nation for this attempt at conspicuous cow consumption.
Like Ramaphosa, Van der Walt, found this Saturday, in late March, was not his day. To his chagrin, a young man, bidding on behalf of somebody else, bought the kudu bull he was after. The most expensive kudu bull on the day went for R510,000 (around $40,000). An exasperated Van der Walt hovered off to another auction 30 kilometers away.
“I plan my bidding before I go to auctions. The animals are advertized on the auction’s website, so when you go there you already know precisely what you are after. Needless to say, I went to the auction knowing exactly what I wanted and what I am willing to pay for the animal. It must be within my budget. This was ridiculously expensive,” says Van der Walt later.
Van der Walt also owns Superior African Hunting Safaris, a hunting farm that his son Eli van der Walt manages. They have been in the business since 2001.
Among the 110 bidders who spent millions on the day, was Arie Kuhn, a game farmer in Limpopo, who is also a chartered accountant in Johannesburg. He says the game farmers were stocking up for the hunting season between May and September.
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“We know what the hunters want, so we stock on those animals that are trending. On my farm, we host trophy hunters who are mainly from abroad. Normally they like blue wildebeest because it’s a cheaper animal to shoot. You can shoot it for R6,000 (around $500) and take your animal home. I purchased a lot of them. We also do exotic game breeding in other camps but these are not for hunting,” says Kuhn.
He says his auction budget is determined by his bookings.
Kuhn has been in the game farming business for nine years and grew up on the farms of Limpopo. He brought his two children, Kaylen and Jayden, with him. Jayden, his eight-year-old son, has taken to his father’s passion of hunting impala.
As the auction wore on, the mood was festive at Aucor Wildlife Auctions. Du Toit says that this may not be one of their best days, without saying how much, but seemed satisfied.
In the near distance, in a thatched-roof building, rapped the voice of auctioneer Mike Killassy. He’s in his element and in high spirits. This auction lasted four hours.
“Hammer is up. Can you make it R10,000 ($800) now, sir? Are you happy, can we sell it?” asks the auctioneer.
Killassy, owner of Killassy Auctioneering, has spent more than three decades auctioneering and worked in the United States, Australia and Europe. He says his career’s highlight was being featured in TIME. Killassy was born in Aberdeen, a farming town in the Eastern Cape, to a family with more than 100 years in agriculture. He started as a stock farming auctioneer; these days he is inundated with wildlife auctions. They come up every week in South Africa.
The business has grown enough to attract analysis. Academics in North West University, South Africa, carried out a study. They found game ranching to be a better bet than banking and the stock exchange.
Flippie Cloete, an academic from North West University, says the economic contribution of game farming was close to at least R20 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2014.
Around 29,000 animals were sold at auctions in 2014, making R1.88 billion ($151 million). In total, around 130,000 game animals were traded during the 2014 season. This means a mere 22% of animals were sold at auctions.
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“If we assume that the trade composition of official auctions and private trade are analogous, then the economic contribution from live wildlife trade alone was close if not in excess of R10 billion ($800 million). This is not even considering the economic contribution for services such as capture and translocation, pharmaceuticals, veterinary expense. In addition, the contribution of hunting is estimated to be in excess of R8 billion ($642 million),” says Cloete.
“Game yields higher returns because of the cumulative effect. You have an asset with a reproductive ability. The returns of your investment are not only determined by the change in value of the original animals that were bought, but also from the progeny. If I put my money on stock exchange, or buy a house as an investment, then the returns will to a degree depend on what happened to the value of the shares or the house. However, the big difference is that one share can’t become two or a house can’t become two. But one animal becomes two and so forth. There’s a cumulative effect,” says Cloete.
Van der Walt concurs.
“There’s no comparison between investing in property and wildlife. The animals multiply themselves but property doesn’t. In animals you are guaranteed a 30 percent profit the next year,” he says.
Meanwhile, Andrew Lianos, a chartered accountant at River Group, wants to list wildlife animals on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). This has never been done before but he’s convinced he will have his way.
“The JSE does not comment on potential listings in the pipeline. It will only comment once a listing has been confirmed and this confirmation occurs via a SENS announcement as per JSE listing rules,” says Andre Visser, the General Manager for Issuer Regulation at the JSE.
On that sunny day in the bushes of Limpopo, Van der Walt may not have got his way in buying the kudu, but you could argue he has taken the game business by the horns.

Taking Millions By The Horns

Waking up to the roar of engines around the Kyalami racetrack, in the chilly Johannesburg autumn, was a part of growing up for Christine Bingham’s family. They waited for months to sleep in the back of their green Toyota Cressida station wagon in Kyalami’s parking lot. On this Saturday, in 1977, there were 90,000 waiting to see the best of Formula One (F1): Jody Scheckter; Niki Lauda; and James Hunt.
Drivers from across the world dreamed of competing under the African sun at Kyalami in the 1970s. The South African track was considered one of the fastest in the world. It suffered a slow death after ceasing F1 racing in 1993.
In July, the four-kilometer asphalt surface went under the hammer.
The auction, at an opulent venue in Sandton, was packed with expensive suits and dresses. The room fell silent as Lead Auctioneer Joff Van Reenen, of High Street Auctions, opened the bidding at $18.8 million. A bid came from the front row in seconds. A second bid, for $19.3 million, came in over the phone. The bidding ceased when the first bidder shook his head. Van Reenen slammed the gavel down once, twice and sold. In the space of minutes, the iconic racetrack had a new owner. The question on everyone’s lips – who was the bidder on the phone?
“We can reveal that the bidder on the phone was a representative of Porsche South Africa. If the property had gone for development, we estimated that it could have been worth R300 to R400 million ($28 to $37 million). I am glad that the racetrack will stay in the industry. We had seven registered bids for the track, but in the end it went to the right person,” says Lance Chalwin-Milton, MD of High Street Auctions.
According to Chalwin-Milton, it is the highest price paid for a South African property under the lot. The previous record price was for development land in Knysna, a gem on the south coast of South Africa, which was sold for $11.3 million.
Kyalami may yet see racing. Porsche South Africa has indicated that by December the site might be upgraded for endurance circuit racing, but almost certainly not the F1 racing that left fans like Bingham with warm memories.
“I think it was the atmosphere that made you want to go to the races. I remember the tickets being very expensive. It was always John’s job to make breakfast, a gas-cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs. We would spend the day on the stands with the crowds watching the cars go by. In those days, there were no TVs so you would only see what happened in front of you. I also remember losing our voices by the end of the weekend screaming to talk over the noise of the engines,” she says.
Bingham, a widow living in the quiet northern suburbs of Johannesburg, has been a racing fan all her life. She grew up around the tracks of Silverstone and Mallory Park, in England. Bingham would hide in the boot of a car to get into the races and avoid the entrance fees. It was also here that she met her husband, John. After they were married, they took their daughter to a race once, it stopped after they realized the engines were too loud for the baby.
When her family came to South Africa, in 1971, they gravitated toward Kyalami. It was a long drive to get there from their home in Krugersdorp, a time when Sandton was only a farm, says Bingham. Tickets for Kyalami were bought months in advance.
“The crowds were huge.  But the kids got rather bored and it was too noisy for them,” recalls Bingham.
Motor racing was a lot more dangerous in those days, says Bingham. The last time rubber was burnt on Kyalami’s track was in 2010 for a MotoGP motorbike race.
“I remember in 1977 when a track marshal was killed, Tom Price the driver also died in the accident. We didn’t see him crash, all I remember is watching people running around the stands to go see it,” she says.
It was during lap 21 of the South Africa Grand Prix. Italian Renzo Zorzi’s engine caught fire. Two marshals ran to help. One of them was 19-year-old Fredrik Jansen van Vuuren. He never made it to Zorzi’s car. As Van Vuuren crossed the track, with fire hydrant in hand, Pryce hit him. Both died in the collision. Zorzi was cut from the team after finishing one of five races, having scored no championship points.
Bingham also remembers an African motor racing legend in the same race, who finished second. His name is Jody Scheckter and in 1979 became the only African to win an F1 title.
“Scheckter was a very reckless driver. He was the kind of driver who would take risks without thinking about safety, especially when he started; being English we all supported the British racers,” she says.
These days, you won’t find Bingham near a racetrack. At the age of 71, she watches F1 from the comfort of her couch.
“I watch the racing religiously on Sundays. It’s much easier now, following it on TV, and if I miss it I watch the recording later that evening. When you were at the stands you could only see if the cars had shifted positions. It’s actually much more exciting on TV,” she says.
Over time, Bingham has seen drivers come and go. She proudly admits to having supported only a handful; Nigel Mansell, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton &#8211; until he became arrogant, according to Bingham &#8211; and Sebastian Vettel. Racing has changed a lot, she says.
“I think the big thing that has changed is the issue of safety. But the technology is more advanced now. I remember it taking 12 seconds for a pit stop in those days, these days they can do it in four.”
At the auction, in the time it takes for a pit stop, 43 years of racing may have been lost forever.
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Tag: Auction

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