When the gavel fell at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg last night, it represented a R6-million transaction for a single work of art that has had the art community in a fluster all week. With the wave of a bidder's hand under the ballroom's chandeliers, it was money changing hands for the enigmatic life-size work of Alexis Preller's Adam.The piece, created in 1969, is the so-called "lost" Preller, last seen on South Africa's shores 47 years ago before disappearing into the private collection of prominent New York collectors Ruth and Jerome Seigel.The striking Adam was expected to fetch at least R9-million. It fell short but all the 10 Preller works managed to come in with a total price tag of R18.2-million.The Strauss & Co auction also featured other repatriated works, including two important Walter Battiss pieces returned from Australia.Other significant works that went under the hammer included a large-scale frieze of 10 figures on wooden panels by Cecil Skotnes, as well as contemporary works from Norman Catherine, Deborah Bell, William Kentridge and Lucas Sithole...