RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, August 18-20, 2022
It’s been five weeks since leaving Monterey with incipient Covid-19. The infection wasn’t bad, but it has lingering consequences. But, finally, here’s the final result from Monterey 2022 and it’s RM Sotheby’s epic sale with $243 million changing hands. To put it in perspective, in 2017 Sotheby’s evening contemporary art auction in New York totaled […]
Gooding & Co., Pebble Beach, August 19-20, 2022
In common with pretty much every other Monterey auction Gooding & Company continued its strong comeback from the weak 2019 performance with strong 2022 results. The numbers that Gooding delivered are exceptional. 38 of the lots offered were bid to $1 million or more. 27 of them sold bringing a total of $74,262,500 including buyer’s […]
Mecum Auctions, Del Monte Golf Course, Monterey, August 18-20, 2022
Mecum Auctions has in the past deluged its Monterey auction with truckloads of consignments, both cars and motorcycles. In only the third year here in 2011 there were 743 lots offered. There were 735 in 2013 and from 2014 through 2018 there were over 600 each year. That emphasis on volume seems to have tapered […]
Bonhams, Quail Lodge, August 19, 2022
With a 137-lot consignment and a slow-paced auction style Bonhams still has too many lots constrained within a modest area of Quail Lodge that hasn’t changed since they began to cram cars into the same constraints four years ago. There are too many cars to be appreciated in the space (and auction block time) available […]
Broad Arrow, Monterey, August 18, 2022
Broad Arrow is, despite the decades of experience of its team, the new kid on the block. Started just a year or so ago, it gained support from Hagerty which then was morphing from a privately held company to publicly traded after a merger with a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) led by Rob Kaufmann […]
The 2022 Monterey Auctions
One 7-figure Car Short of Half a Billion Dollars First, an explanation of why this report is so late. I returned from Monterey with Covid, then gave it to my wife. The last week of August and the first one of September were a write-off to our recoveries which was without complications or hospitalization. […]
Mecum Auctions, Harrisburg, PA, July 27-30, 2022
The onset of inflation became top-of-mind at Mecum’s Harrisburg sale over four days at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. Many prices during the height of the action on Friday and Saturday were beyond generous, almost as if bidders were disposing of current dollars for inflation-protected physical assets that would inflate along with gasoline […]
Bonhams, Goodwood Festival of Speed, June 24, 2022
Although I’ve never been to Goodwood, whether it’s the Members Meeting, the Festival of Speed or the Revival, reliable reports are that these are some of the best events of the collector car year. Goodwood is all about running the cars, whether it’s around the race course or up the hill. It’s about the drivers, […]
Barrett-Jackson, Las Vegas, June 30-July2, 2022
Las Vegas has long seemed like Barrett-Jackson’s spiritual home, a place where glitz and gambling are part of the atmosphere, where Barrett-Jackson’s showmanship and promotion fits like a glove. B-J’s clients have agreed, consigning 600-700 cars almost every year and seemingly effortlessly selling nearly everything that crossed the block even during the early 2010’s when […]
Dana Mecum’s Spring Classic, State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, May 13-21, 2022
Although Dana Mecum’s Spring Classic auction at Indianapolis is now consistently overshadowed by the January extravaganza in Kissimmee it is still a gargantuan presentation with a nearly unparalleled consignment of cars. There is, literally, something for everyone scattered among the Fairgrounds’ many buildings (some aptly named for their agricultural origins with designations like “Sheep” and […]