RM Sotheby’s, “Paris” Online, February 13, 2021
With Rétromobile CoViD displaced to June, the Rétromobile week auctions were left to their own devices. RM Sotheby’s chose to rely on their established and efficient Online format with a 40-lot sale (plus automobilia). The cars were scattered across the Continent and the U.K., the later now formally divorced from the EU with all kinds […]
Mecum Auctions, Kissimmee, January 7-16, 2021
In the middle of a CoViD-19 resurgence Mecum Auctions went to Kissimmee for its annual extravaganza. Thousands of cars, thousands of people (although a lot fewer thousands than in 2020), live bidding and on-site previews. It was the Mecum auction formula, lightened up to cope with a pandemic. And it worked. Oh, how well it […]
Gooding & Company, European Sporting & Historic Collection, London, Geared Online, February 5, 2021
There were only nine lots in Gooding & Company’s February 5 “Geared Online” auction, styled the “European Sporting & Historic Collection”, but they were all very special lots. Whether it’s “Geared Online” from Gooding or “Online Only” from RM Sotheby’s the online format that CoViD has promoted lends itself to tightly structured limited consignment offerings. […]
Artcurial Motorcars, Parisienne, February 5, 2021
The annual pilgrimage to Paris, winter weather be damned, was put off this year by CoViD. The gigantic Rétromobile show months ago postponed to June 2-6 hoping to catch the CoViD slipstream – a hope that is increasingly ephemeral. The auctions that orbit Rétromobile from Artcurial Motorcars, Bonhams and RM Sotheby’s were left to follow […]
Worldwide, Scottsdale in Auburn, January 23, 2021
Everyone had a different solution to the effect of CoViD restrictions on the annual trip to Arizona known familiarly as “Scottsdale”. RM Sotheby’s organized a socially-distanced combined live and online auction at the OTTO Car Club near Scottsdale airport. Bonhams hung on to its Westin Kierland location but only for previews, holding its live/online auction […]
Gooding & Company, Geared Online Scottsdale Edition, January 22, 2021
In common with the other established auctions which usually have sales at Scottsdale in late January Gooding & Company’s was much smaller than usual. The 34 lots offered were less than 25% of 2020’s 138 lots; the total dollars changing hands was less than 20% of 2020’s total. There is no doubt much logistical and […]
Bonhams, Scottsdale, Arizona, January 21, 2021
2021 didn’t open like any other year for Bonhams. The cars were previewed on the finely trimmed lawns of the Westin Kierland as before but the auction was live/online and the consignment was only a third of the lots in prior years. It was a reduction in scale common across the Scottsdale auctions. The bidding […]
RM Sotheby’s, Arizona, January 22, 2021
[This is the first of several reports on the January auctions. Happy 2021.] RM Sotheby’s Arizona auction assumed a vastly different complexion at the start of 2021 yet delivered total dollar results that contrast favorably with prior years. Held at the OTTO Car Club in Scottsdale with a background of racks of collectors’ cars, there […]
Bonhams, New Bond Street, London, December 16, 2020
Missing from Bonhams annual season-ending London auction at its New Bond Street headquarters was one single crucial element: a seven-figure car. They had an Aston Martin DB5 and its successor, a DB6 Vantage Volante. They had a Bentley R-Type Continental H.J. Mulliner fastback, all bid to strong six-figure amounts but all also failed to find […]
Mecum Auctions, Houston, December 4-5, 2020
Yes, that says “December”. Mecum’s regular Houston dates are in April, but April 2020 was not like most Aprils and the regularly scheduled Mecum Houston auction got caught up in the Covid onslaught. Fortunately, though, there was availability at Houston’s NRG Center in December and Mecum Auctions took advantage of it. Unlike prior Mecum Houston […]