Video of the 1914 Peugeot L45 at the Bothwell auction
I realized today that during the preview of Bonhams auction of the Ann and Lindley Bothwell collection last November I’d made a short video of a walk around the car. It was entirely accidental as I was explaining what made the L45 so important (like its race history at the 1914 Lyon GP and twice […]
Bonhams, Les Grandes Marques du Monde, Le Grand Palais, Paris, February 8, 2018
The Grand Palais is fantastic, a vast high ceiling glass roofed spectacle with ornate ironwork (visible in the background of some of the shots of the cars) where early automobile shows were held at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowhere was the history of the Grand Palais more clear than at Bonhams auction this […]
RM Sotheby’s, Place Vauban, Paris, February 7, 2018
It snowed. In fact, it snowed so much wet, slushy white stuff that one section of RM Sotheby’s temporary structure became unsafe and had to be cordoned off on the day of the auction. It snowed so much (all of three inches, but for Paris it was the most snow in three decades) that the […]
Artcurial, Salon Retromobile, Paris, February 9-10, 2018
Artcurial’s Retromobile auction is “the Official Sale” of the Retromobile show in Paris at the Porte de Versailles Paris Expo center, a lavish, enthusiastic, celebration of all things old cars. Retromobile covers thousands of square meters of enclosed exhibition space with just about every kind of exhibitor from tightly focused one-marque clubs and tables covered […]
Bonhams Scottsdale, January 18, 2018
Set on the lush lawns of the Westin Kierland, where irrigation seems anathema to the restricted flow of Scottsdale showerheads, Bonhams Scottsdale Auction is an oasis of enthusiasm. From the full breakfast and hyper coffee on auction morning to the array of vehicles on the grass and in the gravel periphery, Bonhams sets a tone […]
The 2018 Scottsdale Auctions
The final results from the “Scottsdale” auctions have finally been published by the auction companies, added to the spreadsheet with the previous ten years’ results, chewed on a little and examined for potential messages in the tea leaves at the bottom of the Scottsdale cup. Looking back over the last decade of Scottsdale auctions 2018 […]
Car Collectors Should Thank Satoshi Nakamoto
“Satoshi Nakamoto” is the nom de argent of the purported developer of bitcoin and the blockchain technology that underpins it and other cryptocurrencies. Satoshi created something where nothing had existed before and, having no frame of reference, the marketplace was free to establish pretty much any value that it wanted. The blockchain software on which […]
The Second Annual Kirk F. White Motorcars Auction, April 29, 1972
The Second Annual Kirk F. White Motorcars Auction, held April 29, 1972 at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania was much larger than the previous one … and even more confusing to figure out. The sale itself had twice the vehicles, the sell-through rate was a superior 65.6% and the total sale 71.6% greater. As with […]
Classic Car Auction Yearbook — 2016-2017
I look forward every year to the new edition of The Classic Car Auction Yearbook. Many resources take the easy way with a “Top Ten” transactions list and rehash of the auctions with the highest sales. It’s far more difficult, and insightful, to prowl through the numbers and find important trends. It’s even more challenging […]
The First Annual Kirk F. White Motorcars Auction, Radnor, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1971
This auction report might be considered a little late, being 46 years after the fact, but it does serve to highlight some of the changes in the past five decades. Kirk F. White is an entrepreneur of renown, something that showed early on with this ground-breaking sale of collector cars under a yellow-and-white striped 15,000 […]