Auctions defy Brexit gloom
Auction prices continue to surprise in a market overshadowed by the on-going political debates
The November auction market started robustly enough with another 92 per cent sale rate for the annual sale for Veterans held in the Bonhams West End salerooms, where although £600,000 less was spent on half the number of cars that were sold in 2017, the average price paid for a London-to-Brighton car rose by £45,596 this year to £141,469. A £599,690 investment in the future of a 115-year-old Darracq 24hp with four armchairs on top was a reassuring vote of confidence in pioneer automobiles, and a solid result for the auctioneer.
The next day, at its final Drive Past sale of the year, ACA successfully shifted 177 more affordable classics, exactly the same number of more affordable classics as it did at the King’s Lynn auction in November 2017. Although the sale rate fell by nine per cent to a hardly depressing 75 per cent, both the £1.63m sale total and £9109 average spent per car stats were 24 per cent and 22 per cent higher respectively. For the first time, too, the Norfolk firm sold more than 1000 classics in a season.
The same weekend on the ChampsElysees in Paris, Artcurial sold nine per cent fewer classics for nearly £1m less than it did at this sale last year, though the average price paid for the 46 cars that sold amounted to £81,640, very nearly the same as its £81,897 average of last November. Simultaneously, in Somerset, Charterhouse sold 17 more cars at the Royal Bath and West showground in Shepton Mallet for £50,000 more than it did during the same fixture last year. The 66 per cent sale rate was 18 per cent higher, but the average paid per classic was £2075 lower this time at £5430.
The annual market reading taken after the two Silverstone Auctions sales held annually during the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, at the NEC, saw eight fewer cars sold and the sale rate fall by nine per cent. However, Saturday and Sunday’s sales recorded a £500,000 increase to gross £4.01m with premium and record a 36 per cent rise in the average spent per successfully auctioned classic to £58,884. Many of these numbers are remarkable considering the high street gloom that is currently draining consumers’ enthusiasm to go out and play.