African Art in Capetown
 

Just returned from a wonderful short visit to Capetown. Wanted to turn Fodorites onto the best flea market for West African art. It's Sundays outside near Green Point Stadium, a walk from the waterfront. I went with a couple from South Africa who own a furniture store, who were at first poo-pooing the prices and quality and wanted to stay in the car. I have been collecting art for years and had been there a few years ago when I didn't have money or transport. When I came back to the car with the first of my purchases they couldn't believe it. We went early when the weather wasn't great and had the benefit of better pricing. I think foreigners on the whole are uncomfortable with flea markets and bargaining and would rather pay higher prices in a "real" store. But I felt safe and had a great time, but then again I know pricing and art. My friends bought 20,000 rand worth of brass Benin type huge sculptures for their stores as well as lifesize "colonial" men carved in Cote D'ivoire. I bought large sculptures in wood to decorate my new house. I went the next day to a "real" store which was empty on the Waterfront and would have paid sometimes up to 10 times the price for exactly the same quality.

Any advice, feel free to email me.
I am currently on a lengthy "paid" vacation while labor unrest is sorted out at my hospital. Apparently the Zulus want to get rid of all the white doctors. I had just started my first group of children on Aids drugs. In KZN, there are about 9 million total population with about 40% HIV positive.
5% of children under 14 are HIV positive. And I sit on my rear end for my safety while the province sorts out its labor problems. Only 100 children in all of KzN have started treatment!! (And I started 10 of them by myself in a rural hospital)

Maybe I should open an art gallery instead!

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Kim-
You said: Maybe I should open an art gallery instead?
Why not do both? You certainly wouldn't be the first person who turned their hobby into a very successful and rewarding business. You could also do consulting and who knows what all? Just a thought. All of your trips abroad could be business expenses, etc. Liz

Hey Kim
Good to hear from you! Still waiting for pics of the new house, finished!
That's the same market we went to on our Sunday in Cape Town and I agree that it has a wonderful selection of art not just from SA but from various regions in Africa.
Sorry to hear about the possible work problem - is it likely they will take this idea of theirs any further?

We love to flea market, but has anyone experienced mailing packages back to the U.S. I understand it can be quite expensive. Cape Town may be the first stop on our two months in S.A. so cannot carry much with us.

Two aussies,
We mailed ourselves two packages. One was a print we had brought - not heavy in itself but we made such a robust package of bubble wrap and layers and layers of cardboard that it the parcel was heavy enough.
The other had a few small sandstone items, a few more small prints, a book and more bubble wrap and newspaper wadding.
The first one was worth quite a bit more so we started off looking at sending it via FedEx but when I asked them for a quote they said it would cost 980 Rand!!! We went to the post office within the waterfront shopping centre and after we chatted a while they admitted that FedEx actually bring everything to them to post anyway so I'm glad I didn't waste my money. The charge through the PO was 600 Rand plus 40 for insurance up to the value of 2000 Rand. The print was worth more than that but I decided I didn't want to draw too much attention to it by declaring a value on it any higher than 2000 Rand. I think the print itself cost about 3500 Rand so paying 700 Rand postage wasn't as outrageous as it sounds.
For the other parcel, I think the cost is about 150 Rand or less.