Giles Peppiatt, from Bonhams in London, had good reason to make the trip to Nigeria’s financial capital, Lagos, for the auction house’s next sale of African art — a glut of potential buyers. On a recent visit, he described Africa as ‘one of our hottest properties on the art block’. ‘In some ways, Africa is the new China when it comes to art,’ he added. ‘We are investing time, money and people to maintain our presence in this market.’ Bonhams has blazed a trail in the sector, having organised its first ‘Africa Now’ sale of modern and contemporary African art in 2007, which has since become an annual event. Among its most expensive sales was ‘Arab Priest’ (1945) by South African painter Irma Stern, which was bought by the Qatar Museums Authority for just over three million pounds (4.2 million euros, $4.7 million) in 2011. ‘New World

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