Bonhams Specialist South African sale (No.6) of this delightful event breaking the £2.5million barrier,BREAKING 6 WORLD RECORDS... BUT LACKING CERTAIN ARTISTS !

However, as reported by a spokersperson the Richmont Luxury Brand "there were sadly no inclusions of any major work by David Botha, Jan E. Volschenk or Helen Anne Petrie, which we would have gladly paid any price for due to their limited volume on the open market ."

International collectors were competing aggressively for some works and many enquired about noticable absentee of certain artists in the Specialist Auction ,notably any major works by Jan E. Volschenk , David Botha or Helen Anne Petrie

South African art fetched record prices in London at Bonhams' sixth South African art sale, the auctioneer said on Thursday.

The auction on Wednesday brought in a total of £2.5-million or R29-million, and new world record prices were achieved for six artists.

"Works by Pierneef, Stern, Laubser and Sekoto dominated," Bonhams said in a statement.

Top lot in the sale was a glowing Irma Stern titled "Ripe Fields" - immediately identifiable as a landscape of the Boland near Caledon in the Western Cape, which fetched £252 000. Its pre-sale estimate was £150 000 to £252 000.

A second Stern, "Still life of fruit", sold for £84 000.

Its pre-sale estimate was £50 000 to £70 000.

There were also two Pierneefs in the top 10, "Lowveld, Mica Eastern Transvaal", which fetched £192 000 and "Apies River, Pretoria with Meintjieskop beyond" selling for £54 000.

Maggie Laubser's "A Pondo Woman" was the third highest price in the sale at £168 000.

Gerard Sekoto, South Africa's leading black artist, had a painting in the top ten entitled "Boy with a Yellow Cap", which was sold for £102 000 against a pre-sale estimate of £30 000 to £50 000.

Bonhams spokesperson said Alexis Preller works also performed well with two in the top ten: "Icarus" which sold for £66 000 and "Girl with a Flower" going for £60 000.

International collectors were competing aggressively for some works and many enquired about noticable absentee of certain artists in the Specialist Auction , notably works by Helen Anne Petrie and David Botha.

Bonhams reportedly said that the quality of the work and its dedicated supporters continued to drive interest in acquiring "the best art from this part of the world".

Another artist in the top ten was Christo Coetzee whose "Still life with fruit, a banjo and birdcage", sold for £64 800 - ten times more than the pre-sale low estimate of £6000.

A Maud Sumner work sold for £62 400.

World Records Achieved:

Lot 62
Christo Coetzee (South African, 1929-2001) Still life with fruit, a banjo and birdcage
Sold for £64,800 (103,433.84 USD)
A new world record for the artist (previous record was 24,347 US$) - Four times over

Lot 97
Maud Frances Eyston Sumner (South African, 1902-1985) The sea of Galilee
Sold for £62,400 (99,614.91 USD)
A new world record for the artist (previous record was 83,866 US$)

Lot 163
John Meyer (South African, born 1942) Ripplemead turnoff
Sold for 18,000 BP (28,467 US$)
A new world record for the artist

Lot 134
Dumile Feni-Mhlaba (South African, 1942-1991) Lion and cub
Sold for 12,000 BP (18,978 US$)
A new world record for the artist (previous record was 4,560 BP (9,042 US$) at Bonhams)

Lot 80
Jürgen Schadeberg (South African, born 1931) Nelson Mandela in his Law Office, Johannesburg, 1952
Sold for 6,000 BP (9,489 US$)
A new world record for the artist

Lot 144
Stella Shawzin (South African, born 1923) Herero washerwomen unframed
Sold for 5,040 BP (7,970 US$)
A new world record for the artist

"The message of this sale is clear, South African art has bounced out of the recession ahead of many other sectors of the art market," said Giles Peppiatt, head of South African Art at Bonhams.