Caro Wiese is a lover of beautiful things. This understated collector, who recently joined the board of Strauss & Co, the largest fine art auction house in South Africa, talks of her enduring love for art and literature.

A rare bronze sculpture of a miner by Anton van Wouw more than doubled its previous record set in 2013, selling for R4.8 million at Strauss and Co’s summer sale held at The Wanderers in Johannesburg last night. A striking number of the top lots at the auction house’s evening session achieved record prices, including important works by Anton van Wouw, Alexis Preller, Norman Catherine and Cecily Sash.

Important South African and International Art, Drawings, Watercolours, Paintings, Prints and Sculpture

Last month, in a packed lecture held at the offices of fine art auctioneers Strauss & Co, Stephan Welz, the longest practising fine art expert and auctioneer in South Africa, held the room rapt as he concentrated his attention on the phenomenal, and largely unsung, contribution made to local arts and culture by Jewish philanthropists.

A month before he passed away on 25 December 2015, distinguished art expert and auctioneer Stephan Welz presided over yet another successful sale at Strauss & Co when, on 9 November, he knocked down painter Alexis Preller’s oil and gesso work The Creation of Adam I (1968) for R8.5 million in Johannesburg. The extraordinary sale result established a new South African record for this enigmatic painter.