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 […]
Bonhams, Olympia, London, December 3, 2018
Following by only two days Bonhams high-end auction at its New Bond Street headquarters Olympia is an opportunity to move some more mainstream and affordable collector cars. And that is exactly what happened, with the results that follow. After covering the Bond Street auction, Chris Sharpe proceeded to Olympia where he remarkably reported on pretty […]
Premier Auction Group, Punta Gorda, Florida
November 30-December 1, 2018 Kenny Garman, Brian Marshall and Julie Zimmerman are usually working auctions put on by others, all over the country. Premier Auction Group is their own auction, however, in the backyard of some of the principals at the Charlotte Harbor Event Center on Florida’s Gulf Coast. This is a first time event […]
Bonhams, London New Bond Street Headquarters
December 1, 2018 It’s best to let the numbers and the results speak for this auction at Bonhams headquarters on New Bond Street in London. There were six lots with low estimates of $1 million or more, an exemplary consignment of quality cars. Only one of them sold. Its $3,023,113 final price with commission was […]
Mecum Auctions, Las Vegas, November 15-17, 2018
The numbers below describe a typical Mecum auction with a mid-$30’s average and mid-$20s median. Missing from that picture are the 39 cars from the Academy of Art University collection, a paltry 4 ½% of the lots offered that has an outsized position on Mecum Auction’s ambitions. 26 of the 39 offered from the collection […]
Mecum Auctions, Dallas, October 3-6, 2018
Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Since securing the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in 2012 to enter the Dallas-Ft. Worth market Mecum Auctions has built – as they seem consistently to be able to do – a steady four-day presence with 1,000+ lots on offer. Their calendar record hasn’t been as steady, with five of […]
The Epic Alfa Romeo – 8C 2900B at Artcurial Retromobile
[Quick note: This magnificent Alfa Romeo sold for €16,745,600, about US$19 million.] Artcurial Motorcars headline consignment for its annual Retromobile auction in February 2019 is a Touring Berlinetta bodied Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B, chassis number 412024. Alfa Romeo built only a handful of its masterpiece, the 8C 2900, in the late Thirties. They are […]