Bonhams, Tupelo Automobile Museum, April 26-27, 2019
Collectors have been “aging-out” of collecting for decades. Sometimes it is voluntary, other times it is not. Occasionally there are sequential dispositions (viz., Dick Burdick, Larry Klairmont and Michael Dingman, as in, “sell, collect anew, sell again.”) On April 26-27 in Tupelo, MS (“Birthplace of Elvis Presley”) Bonhams dispersed Frank and Jane Spain’s Tupelo Automobile […]
RM Sotheby’s, Fred Guyton Collection, St. Louis, Missouri, May 4-5, 2019
RM Sotheby’s sale of Fred Guyton’s collection in St. Louis was the second time in two weeks that a large collection was sold out to the bare walls. The collections were markedly different in concept from last week’s sale of engineer Frank Spain’s Tupelo Automobile Museum. Fred Guyton was an architect with, based upon the […]
Barrett-Jackson, Palm Beach, Florida, April 11-13, 2019
2019 marked Barrett-Jackson’s fifteenth year at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach. It may have been fifteen years, but that doesn’t mean it is “the same old thing” as B-J loaded the docket with late model supercars and finely crafted Restomods and customs in 2019. The top sale was a ’47 Buick Restomod […]
Bonhams., Goodwood Members’ Meeting, April 7, 2019
Bonhams does, at least at the latest count, three auctions a year at Goodwood. Two take primacy, the Festival in June-July and the Revival in September. These are high-zoot events with lavish manufacturer support, legions of drivers-you’d-love-to-meet and some of the most sublime racing and rally cars ever known (and a few that are delightfully […]
Mecum Auctions, Houston, April 4-6, 2019
Just over a thousand lots crossed the Mecum auction block at the NRG Center in Houston, Mecum’s eighth year at this venue. The car count was the Houston sale’s second highest. The sell-through rate also was second highest. The sale total, however, was the second lowest, a performance traced to a paucity of high priced […]
Mecum Auctions, Phoenix (Glendale), Arizona, March 14-17, 2019
A new venue for Mecum Auctions, this was a two-day – no, a three-day – no, a four-day sale at State Farm (formerly University of Phoenix) Stadium in the west Phoenix city of Glendale, Arizona. The expansion from two to four days was driven by the amount of consignor interest just two months after the […]
RM Sotheby’s, Ritz Carlton, Amelia Island, March 8-9, 2019
RM Sotheby’s went back to a 2-day format this year and was aided by benign North Florida weather, unlike last year when the Concours pulled forward a day to avoid a predicted Sunday deluge. The sale featured several cars from the Youngtimer Collection of late model, low miles, original cars. This followed RM Sotheby’s success […]
Gooding & Company, Amelia Island Plantation, March 8, 2019
Of the 89 cars on the Friday docket at Gooding & Company’s auction at the Amelia Island Plantation 33 were Porsches (37.1% of the docket) including ten in the no reserve offering from the collection of WhatsApp founder Jan Koum. In common with its competition Gooding raised its Buyer’s Premium to 12% of the first […]
Bonhams, Fernandina Beach Golf Club, Amelia Island, March 7, 2019
Bonhams auction at the Fernandina Beach Golf Club was very brassy, in the best way possible. Building on the Don C. Boulton Collection of 28 automobiles, Bonhams presented 27 cars from the Brass Era, 11 even older antiques and a total of 43 lots built before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, 39.8% of the […]
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 […]