RM Does It In London

In its first auction in England, RM Auctions parlayed three exceptional collections (Bernie Ecclestone, Giuseppe Prevosti and Abba Kogan) into the top-grossing collector car sale ever held in the UK.
They did it not by a whisker, or even a step, but rather by nearly a factor of three more than the next highest-grossing sale held in the UK (Bonhams Goodwood Revival sale in 2004), with $37,857,923 in car lots sold, a 91.67% sale rate (77 sold of 84 offered). 29.9% of the lots sold were hammered down at a bid greater than RM's pre-sale high estimate.
Top lot of the sale was the 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster from Bernie Ecclestone's collection which hammered sold at an astounding £3,550,000, £3,905,000 with commission and $8,200,606 at the current exchange rate. In dollars (converted at the time of the sale) that is the third highest individual collector car transaction ever. The others were RM's recent sale of the Ferrari 330 TRI/LM in May for $9,277,126 and Christie's fabled sale of the Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe in 1987 for 5.5 million pounds sterling, $9,764,585 at the exchange rate at the time.
Exchange rates, and particularly the dollar's current swoon against the pound and Euro, complicate the comparison somewhat but nowhere near enough to change the qualitative conclusion that Rob Myers and the RM Auctions crew had a heck of a debut in London.