“The Original” Barrett-Jackson, January 15-29, 2023
Very few auctions earn the distinction of being described only as “Barrett-Jackson” but that’s the sobriquet applied to B-J’s annual January auction at WestWorld in Scottsdale. It was the original and it remains – despite the spawn of imitators and competitors – one of a kind. Not that it has remained the same, however, evolving […]
RM Sotheby’s, Arizona Biltmore, January 26, 2023
While not as impressive as 2022’s one-day 69-lot performance, RM Sotheby’s auction at the Arizona Biltmore RM turned in a curve-setting total in 2023. $44.6 million in a single-day sale is exceptional. Its $558,079 average transaction is bettered only by 2022’s $665,394 million average transaction and 2015’s $578,232 million average. That kind of average is […]
Bonhams, Scottsdale, January 27, 2023
After three Covid-complicated years Bonhams returned to form on the Westin Kierland lawn in 2023 with a 125-lot sale on Friday the 27th. With an 84% sale rate and almost $30 million total changing hands there were some unusual cars like three different Ghia-bodied Fifties Chryslers, a rare OSCA, an even more rare 600 Intermeccanica […]
Mecum Auctions, Kissimmee, Florida, January 4-15, 2023
Mecum Kissimmee is a remarkable story. From its start in 2010 Kissimmee has always had a 1,000 plus car consignment. It passed 2,000 lots only two years later in 2012 and has never looked back. The car count exceeded 3,000 in 2019 and after retrenching during Covid popped back over 3,000 in 2022 before reaching […]
RM Sotheby’s, Miami Beach, December 10, 2022
RM Sotheby’s launched a different concept live auction in Miami on December 10. Set at the 7th floor exhibition space at 1111 Lincoln Road surrounded by stylish bars and restaurants it featured twenty-one cars from the Kuwait-based Youngtimer Collection and five from the Rey Collection in a 58-car docket. 36 of the lots were offered […]
RM Sotheby’s, Newman/Hass Collection, Lincolnshire, IL, October 29, 2022
Rarely, if ever, does a collection like this come along. Carl Haas and Paul Newman got together in 1983 when Haas convinced Mario Andretti to join the team, if he could bring Paul Newman into it (or maybe it was the other way around.) Newman, it was noted in the catalog, wasn’t inclined but succumbed […]
Barrett-Jackson, Houston, October 20-22, 2022
Sometimes auctions come back for a reprise of a first time venue and struggle to produce the first year’s hype and results. Not so with Barrett-Jackson’s return for its second year at Houston’s NRG Center where the cars, the docket and the money were consistent with their first year in 2021. B-J makes a fetish […]
Broad Arrow Auctions, Passion for the Drive Jim Taylor Collection, Gloversville, NY, October 15-16, 2022
Broad Arrow Auctions moved quickly from its inaugural auction at the Monterey Jet Center in August to upstate New York and the single-owner sale of a whole bunch of cars from the collection of Jim Taylor. Jim’s family started Taylor Made products in Gloversville, on the edge of the Adirondacks, in 1908 making canvas products […]
RM Sotheby’s, Gene Ponder Collection, Marshall, Texas, September 24, 2020
Fifteen years ago in 2007 RM Auctions sold kitchen cabinet mogul Gene Ponder’s collection (or much of it) in Marshall, Texas at No Reserve raising $11.9 million. But, you can’t keep an enthusiastic serial buyer down and on September 24 RM Sotheby’s sold the latest Ponder acquisitions with No Reserve also at his spread in […]
Bonhams, Audrain Motor Week, Newport, RI, September 30, 2022
The Audrain Motor Week is becoming a force in American collector car events, spearheaded by its backer, Nick Schorsch, and Donald Osborne, Audrain’s CEO. Based upon the first three years of the Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week (to give it its full name) a long-term plan is being implemented and, despite its events being […]