Bonhams, Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, Philadelphia, October 7, 2019
Bonhams has positioned this sale since its inception in 2012 as congruent with Dr. Fred Simeone’s “Preserving the Automobile” theme. In this they have been moderately successful – although sometimes the vision has been supplemented by some really nice, restored cars (like this year’s Austin-Healey 100M Le Mans). There were barn finds galore in Philly […]
Worldwide Auctioneers, Auburn, August 30-31, 2019
The big news from Worldwide Auctioneers in 2018 was their location’s move to their new headquarters in the former WWII Museum just across I-69 from the Auburn Auction Park. Somewhat surprisingly, considering the beyond-spacious facility encompassing over four acres inside, the consignment was down substantially – in fact by one-third – from last year’s cramped […]
RM Auctions Auburn Fall, August 30-September 1, 2019
Auburn Fall is a tradition, a gathering place to decompress after the non-stop action both on the auction blocks and in the endless events of Monterey. Along with the ACD Festival the same weekend, RM has turned Auburn Fall into an event itself with myriad activities for attendees and their families. Come, enjoy and even […]
Mecum Auctions, Monterey, August 15-17, 2019
Mecum’s “Daytime Auction” at Monterey was down 34.7% from last year, similar to the overall experience at Monterey this year. In Mecum’s case that was less unusual. As the table below shows, being up and down by a third has been a common experience at this venue and while this is the lowest total for […]
RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, August 15-17, 2019
RM Sotheby’s added a Thursday session for 34 Aston Martins, bringing their total consignment to 184 lots from last year’s 150. 64.7% of the Astons sold, not bolstering RM’s eventual 72.8% sell-through. But it was the Saturday appearance of the vaunted Porsche Type 64 (actually a modified Kraft durch Freude Wagen (the VW predecessor) Porsche […]
Gooding & Co., Pebble Beach, August 16-17, 2019
Like the other Monterey auctions Gooding & Co. ran up against a wall of indifference in 2019. The first challenge was consignors’ indifference. Not that there weren’t some great cars on offer at The Pebble Beach Auction, there were and as always displayed to advantage in Gooding’s spacious marquees. The issue was that none of […]
Bonhams, Quail Lodge, August 15-16, 2019
More is not Better Bonhams crammed 219 cars into its Quail Lodge location in 2019, 62% more lots in exactly the same space at a sale where when Bonhams previously has expanded to two days it has been to feature a high-profile collection. They were cheek by jowl tight. The Maserati Bora lost its right […]
The 2019 Monterey Auctions
By now it’s pretty well-known that the collector car auctions in Monterey were off by nearly a third from last year. It’s taken some time to get consistent results from the auction companies, then to put them into a coherent presentation that is comparable with prior years. The week itself was a marathon culminating in […]
Barrett-Jackson Northeast, Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort, June 27-29, 2019
With 548 vehicles crossing the block at Barrett-Jackson’s fourth annual auction at the Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut it is reasonable to infer there’s lots of fodder for collector car auction reports. That was hardly the case in 2019 (or, for that matter, in prior years.) First, let’s consider what a “collector […]
Bonhams, Festival of Speed, Goodwood, July 5, 2019 (Updated July 19)
Since no one in his or her right mind who loves cars needs an excuse to attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed the FoS is more like an excuse to attend Bonhams auction. This is never a big auction, more like a place for the right crowd to gather away from the sensory overload of […]