September
A Variety of Varieties: Classic Cellar Selections
ONLINE AUCTION
26 August - 16 September 2025
A Variety of Varieties: Classic Cellar Selections celebrates South African winemaking and its most collectable categories. From single-vineyard and vertical Chenin Blancs, through elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, to powerful Bordeaux-style blends, these local treasures are paired with standout international benchmark bottles to provide an international tasting comparator.
With all lots provenance-checked and cellar-ready, the sale brings together age-worthy vertical sets, rare large formats and single-bottle treasures, ideal for private collectors, sommeliers and trade cellars.
Featured highlights are marquee South African names and special formats, such as Kanonkop double magnums and multi-vintage verticals from Sadie Family Wines and David & Nadia. Standout lots include Alheit Huilkrans 2019 (a multi-bottle lot), David & Nadia Chenin verticals, Storm Wines’ Vrede Chardonnay 2023 and sought-after Kanonkop large-format offerings.
Anchoring the sale is a Vincent Dancer Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Blanc (2023), bringing an international collecting focus and pricing context.
*Condition and Provenance Reports and provenance information are available for every lot.
DISCOVER:
Sale number: WS2025
Location: Online Auction
Lots: 198
Modern & Contemporary Art
LIVE AUCTION IN JOHANNESBURG
17 September 2025 at 7 PM (SAST)
The Spring Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art will take place in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 17 September 2025 at 7 p.m. (SAST). The auction will be held in person at our new gallery and auction room in the Trumpet Building, 21 Keyes Avenue in Rosebank, and will also be streamed live for online bidding.
The sale is presented in two sessions. The first showcases a significant selection of late modern and contemporary works by leading South African, African, and international artists.
The second session is dedicated to highlights from the Humphreys Collection, now released by De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Shared Treasures: The Humphreys Collection features 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, British and French works of the same period, antique sculptures, furniture, and objets d’art, as well as 20th-century South African works from the personal holdings of Kimberley statesman William Benbow Humphreys (1889–1965). These works formed the original bequest for the establishment of the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley in 1948.
PRIME BIDDING is here! Place your bid early and enjoy a reduced 10% Buyer’s Premium.
Register and bid before 7pm (SAST) on 16 September to take advantage of a reduced Buyer’s Premium of just 10% (instead of the standard 12.5% - 15%). This benefit applies whether your PRIME BID secures your lot immediately or if you win it later during the live auction at a higher bid.
Please note, PRIME BIDS are binding and must be at or above the low estimate of the lot you wish to secure.
Sale number: Jhb Sept 25
Location: Live Auction in Johannesburg
Lots: 106
Catalogue: View the Catalogue
Enchanted Worlds: The Timlin Collection
ONLINE AUCTION
4 - 18 September 2025
The Timlin Collection of paintings, watercolours, works on paper, and editioned prints by William Mitcheson Timlin was assembled by the artist’s brother, Clifford Timlin, also the architect of the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley, Northern Cape. Comprising 62 outstanding original works, the collection captures the remarkable breadth of Timlin’s imaginative output.
The collection later passed to Clifford’s daughter-in-law and grandchildren, before being offered to the market in 1987, when De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited acquired it and placed it on long-term loan to the William Humphreys Art Gallery (WHAG). For nearly four decades, the Timlin Collection, together with WHAG’s own holdings, represented the largest public collection of the artist’s work in South Africa.
Now, Aspire Art is delighted to present Enchanted Worlds: The Timlin Collection in its original entirety. Having remained under WHAG’s custodianship for almost forty years, the release of this collection by De Beers opens a rare opportunity for collectors worldwide to encounter and acquire these extraordinary artworks.
A British-born architect, illustrator and artist, William Mitcheson Timlin (1892–1943) made Kimberley his permanent home in 1912, at the age of twenty. He quickly became a central figure in the city’s cultural life – as a Founder Member of the Art Section of the Kimberley Athenaeum, a pioneering organisation that laid the groundwork for a permanent art gallery, and as a respected member of Kimberley’s architectural fraternity. Beyond these roles, he firmly established himself as a uniquely imaginative artist.
Timlin is best known for The Ship that Sailed to Mars (1923), the extraordinary fantasy book he both wrote and illustrated, and which today is considered a classic of early 20th-century fantastical illustration.
Alongside his architectural career, he produced enchanting paintings, watercolours, drawings and etchings that reveal his fascination with dreamlike realms. Often populated with ethereal figures, fantastical cities and otherworldly landscapes, his works reveal a mastery of delicate line and luminous colour, blended in a distinctive creative vision of architectural precision and whimsical fantasy.
Sale number: TCTO2025Location: Online Auction
Lots: 62
Shared Treasures: The Humphreys Collection Part 2
ONLINE AUCTION
4 - 18 September 2025
Step into the legacy of the Humphreys Collection and discover its rare treasures, from historical paintings to antique furniture, sculpture and objets d’art.
William Benbow Humphreys (1889–1965) was a Kimberley statesman, businessman and devoted patron of the arts, whose passion for collecting laid the foundation of one of South Africa’s most significant regional museums.
A keen traveller with a discerning eye, Humphreys acquired paintings, sculpture, furniture and objets d’art on frequent “picture-hunting” trips to Europe. His taste was classic yet eclectic, with a particular affinity for 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting, complemented by British and French works of the same period. These he housed in a purpose-built gallery at his residence, Benbow Lodge.
Humphreys believed that art and beauty should not be a private luxury but a shared cultural treasure. In 1948, he made a landmark bequest, gifting a large portion of his collection to the people of Kimberley and the Northern Cape (then entrusted to the Northern Cape Technical College), on condition that a public gallery be established. He also pledged funds towards its construction.
The works and items chosen for this initial donation—selected by Dr Anton Hendricks, then Director of the Johannesburg Art Gallery—included Old Master European and British paintings, antique furniture, contemporary copies of classical sculpture, and other works of art.
In 1952, the William Humphreys Art Gallery (WHAG) was officially opened in Kimberley by Harry Oppenheimer, with the Humphreys Bequest forming the core of its holdings. Over subsequent decades, the collection was augmented by 20th-century South African artworks and objects, as well as further loans from Humphreys’ personal holdings, establishing the Humphreys Collection as a richly diverse assembly of works, showcasing a wide spectrum of artistic and cultural traditions.
This legacy was safeguarded and strengthened in 1971, when De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd generously acquired the Humphreys Collection and placed it on long-term loan to the Gallery, ensuring that the works remained in Kimberley for over half a century.
Following the cessation of the long term loan arrangement with the WHAG and in an historic transition De Beers is releasing the Humphreys Collection, entrusting the works of art, antique objects and furniture that were central to this historical legacy to a new generation of discerning collectors.
The Humphreys Collection, with its distinguished provenance and exceptional breadth, carries the gravitas of both local history and international collecting traditions, standing as one of South Africa’s most remarkable stories of generosity, vision, and cultural stewardship.
Sale number: TO4 Sept25
Location: Online Auction
Lots: 111
