The marketplace
Millions changed hands in October in a glut of major sales from auction houses RM Sotheby’s, Gooding & Company and Bonhams, but fortunes for each were mixed.
The biggest seller of all, as 12 cars exceeded the £1m mark, was the 1952 Mille Miglia and Monaco GP Ferrari 225S Berlinetta that fetched £2.163m ($2.81m) with RM Sotheby’s in its 230-car Elkhart Collection event on 23-24 October. With in-room bidding, unlike some of the month’s sales, each lot was sold at no reserve as part of the court-authorised bankruptcy sale of former Interlogic Outsourcing Inc CEO Najeeb Khan. A 1953
Fiat 8V Supersonic also surpassed $2m, to $2.04m, ahead of a Jaguar XKSS Continuation ($1.985m) and race-winning 1955 Cooper-jaguar T38 MKII ($1.765m). Meanwhile, a ’67 Toyota 2000GT hit $912,500 as total sales eclipsed $44m.
None of the top 11 lots sold in RM’S Online Only London auction from 26-31 October, though a deal was agreed for the 2018 RUF CTR3 Clubsport post-sale, leaving a £407,000 ’65 Aston Martin DB5 to take top spot. Save the Children benefited from RM’S 2021 Ferrari Roma, which raised $600,000.
At Bonhams, a BMW 507 first owned by Prince Constantine II of Greece led the way at another of the live sales in Zoute, Belgium, on 11 October, delivering on its pre-sale expectations at €2.07m. An impressive 75% successfully found new homes, with second-best going to a Ferrari 250GT Lusso that threatened its upper guide price at €1,782,500. Conversely at the Speedweek six days later, just under half beat reserve, topped by a £1,269,400 ’67 Ferrari 330GTS.
Bonhams capped the month with its annual veteran sale, held with limited attendees on what would have been the eve of the London to Brighton Run weekend on 30 October. While the lead lot, a 1911
Rolls-royce 40/50hp Silver Ghost, failed to sell, among the highlights was a 1929 Bugatti Type 40 Grand Sport Tourer that made £310,500.
From 26-30 October at Gooding & Co, which scored headlines earlier this year with its Geared Online sales, the star lot Maserati A6G/54 Spyder fell short of its $2-2.75m estimate to sell for $1.892m. A Ferrari 250GT Lusso crept just inside its lower expectations to reach $1.43m, while a ‘garage-find’ Lancia Stratos escaped its pre-sale guide by $1000 to hit $451k. The auctioneer will sell the Phil Hill family collection online from 30 November.