Bonhams, Les Grandes Marques du Monde,Le Grand Palais, Paris, February 7, 2019
First of all, the annual observation that Le Grand Palais is the most extraordinary, wonderful collector car auction venue in the world. The setting is epic and unlike the usual fabric-covered marquee or bland multi-purpose convention center ballroom the filigree of cast columns and arches, glass-paned roof and artfully-placed rivets is endlessly fascinating. Le Grand […]
Artcurial Motorcars, Salon Retromobile, Paris, February 8, 2019
Artcurial put on a 3-day auction at Salon Retromobile but the cars were all on Friday the eighth, and there all eyes were enthusiastically focused on a single lot. It was number 20 (unusually early in the order for a headliner, but there were many high profile cars to follow), the 1939 Alfa Romeo 8C […]
Gooding & Company, Fashion Square, Scottsdale, January 18-19, 2019
With two sessions, 124 lots, 106 sold, 85.5% sell through and $48.4 million changing hands, Gooding & Company’s Scottsdale auctions were a solid success. Gooding did better than its counterparts, particularly Bonhams, at moving some of its seven-figure headline cars in Scottsdale. Of twelve lots with pre-sale low estimates of $1 million or more, seven […]
Mecum Kissimmee, January 3-13, 2019 Part 2
The summary and introductory material was supplied two days ago with Part 1 and we’ll just go right to the additional 130 transaction reports and descriptions from Fiat through Willys. Onsite observations are by Andrew Newton, Jossan Elias and Rick Carey but I edited the final copy and am responsible for it. The sort order […]
Mecum Auctions, Kissimmee, January -13, 2019 Part I: Acura-Ferrari
I have some help with auction reporting these days, which is a Good Thing. But sometimes a Good Thing becomes a challenge, and that was true at Kissimmee this year where Jossan Elias and Andrew Newton added 135 observations. Combined we took advantage of the opportunity Mecum presents to give an early year cross-section of […]
RM Sotheby’s, Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, January 17-18, 2019
RM Sotheby’s got bumped in 2019, relinquishing their ballroom auction space to a medical device national meeting. This is the second time this has happened and the RM crew has gotten very good at working around the dislocation, setting up a tent marquee in the valet parking lot for the auction venue and moving much […]
Barrett-Jackson, WestWorld, Scottsdale, January 12-20, 2019
Barrett-Jackson’s annual crowdfest at WestWorld in Scottsdale is amazing, and it seems to grow more amazing every year. The shear masses of people walking through the gates to confront the array of sponsors, vendors and exhibitors – a gauntlet to be run every day just to get to the auction cars – is startling. The […]
Bonhams, Scottsdale, January 17, 2019
Bonhams assembled an attractive and diverse docket to their Scottsdale auction at the Westin Kierland. There were plenty of lots that even the most jaded onlookers found intriguing and, as the numbers below account, they weren’t for the most part exotic or expensive. But it also proved to foreshadow an issue that would be recounted […]
Worldwide Auctioneers, Scottsdale, January 16, 2019
Worldwide Auctioneers brought an unusually varied docket to their Scottsdale auction which kicks off the succession of auctions in parallel with Barrett-Jackson. Older cars were particularly prevalent, both in the sense of their age and in regard to their aged appearance. Barn finds? Absolutely, but also several unrestored or repainted largely original pieces such as […]
RM Sotheby’s, Petersen Museum, Los Angeles, December 8, 2018
Los Angeles’s Petersen Museum was the site of a new RM Sotheby’s venue in early December 2018, the climax of a year where the RM group’s sales were re-branded and shuffled between RM Sotheby’s and RM Auction (successor to Auctions America.) Based on the pre-sale announcement this sale seems to be positioned as a biennial […]