RM Sotheby's London 2015 auction
Discussion
Received the following from Byron.. Thought it was worth sharing as points were IMO very well made:
Autumn Auction Round Up
(Part I)
When everybody is back from their summer vacations in Europe, we see a flurry of auctions which, some say, set the market for autumn while others would observe that the auctions themselves, and especially their valuations “experts”, get a reality check.
And so it has proved in this first ten days of activity – Historics at Brooklands were the pathfinders and met the reality that their estimates, set in a mood of optimism some weeks/months earlier, were too high. One has to admire their effort from the quality of presentation of their inventory to their team’s efforts in turning a huge tranche of provisional bids into completed sales.
From the Aston Martin viewpoint, their first offering, a well presented and realistically priced DB7 Vantage beat its top estimate with a hammer price of £22,000 (£24,640 with premium). But that was the end of the good news – next up was a DB5 that we sold a few years ago when it was Burgundy and in need of TLC. Now in classic Silver Birch and beautifully presented, the bid of £525,000 was not sufficient to complete a sale and a bid of £25,000 was not enough to deliver the sale of a Lagonda V8 Series II.
Next up was Silverstone Auctions at Salon Prive. Poorly signposted and located some distance from available parking, there was a real sense of achievement in just getting to the sale marquee, not complemented by the news from the caterers that “we stop serving coffee at 3.30”. Many attendees were no doubt pleased with the alcohol flowing from magnums of Pommery, sponsors of the main event, but something non alcoholic would have better accompanied the canapés served to the audience.
More important were details of the sale – again, Silverstone’s team had put a huge effort into the structure of the sale. As well as the hospitality, they introduced a “drive through” element to the auction where the sale lot was driven in onto a raised platform in front of the auctioneer - great innovation and, in theory, a great addition to the theatre. What had not been tested was the impact that floodlighting those cars had on the vision of the auctioneer and his ability to pick up on bids. No subtle raised eyebrows to bid here – bidders waving frantically were missed – if they intend to repeat, they must copy RM and put spotters in the aisles.
And it was a mixed bag of results for Aston Martin – a beautiful DB6 Vantage Volante sold for £800,000 (£900,000 incl premium) – but, beautiful or not, that winning bid was below bottom estimate! A brace of DB4’s were let down by presentation quality – the Series II actually had a sign on the window advising caution as the lock was broken. The best bid of £340,000 failed to find a sale, and a Series V car was well short of estimate at £580,000. Only the most myopic bidder would have failed to pick up on appalling panel fit which served to pose questions on the quality of the car’s restoration.
The star of their Aston inventory was an immaculate 8,000 mile DB7 Vantage Volante which beat its top estimate and deservedly found a new home at £55,000 (£61,875 incl. premium) but a low mileage Vantage Coupe failed with a frankly unrealistic estimate. The final Aston, a racing Vantage GT4 was in the wrong place and also went home to the current owner.
Bonhams entered the fray on Saturday with two sales – their familiar appearance at Beaulieu and a second, very discreet affair at Chantilly. In France, the local audience appeared not to warm to the auctioneer nor the two Astons in what, in comparative terms, was a very small inventory. There was an outstanding “Washboard” DB2 and a rare Virage Shooting Brake and neither made the grade and found new owners.
Beaulieu fared a little better – but not by much! Just two Astons in the inventory – a “Project” DB6 Vantage saw a hammer price of £145,000 (£163,900 incl. premium) while a V8 Series III failed to find a buyer. The V8 has been privately advertised for some time and perhaps the seller needs a different approach.
Then Monday night in London was show business all the way – a new layout at Battersea Evolution and a revised format that also included a “drive through” sale. A varied inventory and a huge audience seemed to indicate a great sale but again, rare was the car that made or beat its estimate. Somebody observed recently that there are “too many Ferraris” in the market – and there were plenty on show at RM along with gaggle of Porsches. It turns pinning a value to a Ferrari as a bit of a lottery and there were some major “no sales” including a star 365 GT/B 4 Daytona Spyder – estimated at £2 – £2.4 million, it was bid to just £1.7 million and joined a list on misses that was longer than we expect at RM.
For Aston Martin a very average left hand drive Series II car was bid to £310,00 and remained unsold and it was the same story for a DB2/4 Drophead which was bid to just £200,000. But it was better news for another “Washboard” DB2 whose £270,000 (£308,800 incl premium) which, even thought it undershot its estimate, was enough for a sale. And then a lovely DB5 that had a real sheen of excellence about it made a deserved £700,000 (£800,800 incl premium).
So what is to be learnt so far in this flurry of auctions? Well firstly, it is that there is no shortage of buyers / bidders and there remains vibrancy in the market. But there is clearly a gap between what people will pay and the expectation of sellers.
It may be that the auctions themselves are guilty of creating those expectations – somebody recently suggested that they have begun to believe their own PR where they use prices that include Buyer’s Premium to inflate the headline prices. But the million pounds that a buyer pays is a long way distant from what the seller receives!
Judging by the profile of those attending the auctions, the demographic is changing to a younger profile and that inevitably changes the perceptions of value and the selection of purchases. We have noted before how Feltham cars are suited to a sales environment that is less frenetic to auctions – it now seems that the buyers are closer in profile to pre-war Aston buyers while the James Bond effect makes the Superleggera models as appealing as ever.
Let’s hope that these market changes and price adjustments see less bloated inventories and, ultimately, more satisfied customers. The large inventories with their lower sales rates may deliver more net sales and higher revenues to the auction houses but they also leave more owners disillusioned with the process and potentially the classic car market.
More news from the Goodwood Revival next week, let’s see how they respond to the pricing issues.
© BYRON INTERNATIONAL
Autumn Auction Round Up
(Part I)
When everybody is back from their summer vacations in Europe, we see a flurry of auctions which, some say, set the market for autumn while others would observe that the auctions themselves, and especially their valuations “experts”, get a reality check.
And so it has proved in this first ten days of activity – Historics at Brooklands were the pathfinders and met the reality that their estimates, set in a mood of optimism some weeks/months earlier, were too high. One has to admire their effort from the quality of presentation of their inventory to their team’s efforts in turning a huge tranche of provisional bids into completed sales.
From the Aston Martin viewpoint, their first offering, a well presented and realistically priced DB7 Vantage beat its top estimate with a hammer price of £22,000 (£24,640 with premium). But that was the end of the good news – next up was a DB5 that we sold a few years ago when it was Burgundy and in need of TLC. Now in classic Silver Birch and beautifully presented, the bid of £525,000 was not sufficient to complete a sale and a bid of £25,000 was not enough to deliver the sale of a Lagonda V8 Series II.
Next up was Silverstone Auctions at Salon Prive. Poorly signposted and located some distance from available parking, there was a real sense of achievement in just getting to the sale marquee, not complemented by the news from the caterers that “we stop serving coffee at 3.30”. Many attendees were no doubt pleased with the alcohol flowing from magnums of Pommery, sponsors of the main event, but something non alcoholic would have better accompanied the canapés served to the audience.
More important were details of the sale – again, Silverstone’s team had put a huge effort into the structure of the sale. As well as the hospitality, they introduced a “drive through” element to the auction where the sale lot was driven in onto a raised platform in front of the auctioneer - great innovation and, in theory, a great addition to the theatre. What had not been tested was the impact that floodlighting those cars had on the vision of the auctioneer and his ability to pick up on bids. No subtle raised eyebrows to bid here – bidders waving frantically were missed – if they intend to repeat, they must copy RM and put spotters in the aisles.
And it was a mixed bag of results for Aston Martin – a beautiful DB6 Vantage Volante sold for £800,000 (£900,000 incl premium) – but, beautiful or not, that winning bid was below bottom estimate! A brace of DB4’s were let down by presentation quality – the Series II actually had a sign on the window advising caution as the lock was broken. The best bid of £340,000 failed to find a sale, and a Series V car was well short of estimate at £580,000. Only the most myopic bidder would have failed to pick up on appalling panel fit which served to pose questions on the quality of the car’s restoration.
The star of their Aston inventory was an immaculate 8,000 mile DB7 Vantage Volante which beat its top estimate and deservedly found a new home at £55,000 (£61,875 incl. premium) but a low mileage Vantage Coupe failed with a frankly unrealistic estimate. The final Aston, a racing Vantage GT4 was in the wrong place and also went home to the current owner.
Bonhams entered the fray on Saturday with two sales – their familiar appearance at Beaulieu and a second, very discreet affair at Chantilly. In France, the local audience appeared not to warm to the auctioneer nor the two Astons in what, in comparative terms, was a very small inventory. There was an outstanding “Washboard” DB2 and a rare Virage Shooting Brake and neither made the grade and found new owners.
Beaulieu fared a little better – but not by much! Just two Astons in the inventory – a “Project” DB6 Vantage saw a hammer price of £145,000 (£163,900 incl. premium) while a V8 Series III failed to find a buyer. The V8 has been privately advertised for some time and perhaps the seller needs a different approach.
Then Monday night in London was show business all the way – a new layout at Battersea Evolution and a revised format that also included a “drive through” sale. A varied inventory and a huge audience seemed to indicate a great sale but again, rare was the car that made or beat its estimate. Somebody observed recently that there are “too many Ferraris” in the market – and there were plenty on show at RM along with gaggle of Porsches. It turns pinning a value to a Ferrari as a bit of a lottery and there were some major “no sales” including a star 365 GT/B 4 Daytona Spyder – estimated at £2 – £2.4 million, it was bid to just £1.7 million and joined a list on misses that was longer than we expect at RM.
For Aston Martin a very average left hand drive Series II car was bid to £310,00 and remained unsold and it was the same story for a DB2/4 Drophead which was bid to just £200,000. But it was better news for another “Washboard” DB2 whose £270,000 (£308,800 incl premium) which, even thought it undershot its estimate, was enough for a sale. And then a lovely DB5 that had a real sheen of excellence about it made a deserved £700,000 (£800,800 incl premium).
So what is to be learnt so far in this flurry of auctions? Well firstly, it is that there is no shortage of buyers / bidders and there remains vibrancy in the market. But there is clearly a gap between what people will pay and the expectation of sellers.
It may be that the auctions themselves are guilty of creating those expectations – somebody recently suggested that they have begun to believe their own PR where they use prices that include Buyer’s Premium to inflate the headline prices. But the million pounds that a buyer pays is a long way distant from what the seller receives!
Judging by the profile of those attending the auctions, the demographic is changing to a younger profile and that inevitably changes the perceptions of value and the selection of purchases. We have noted before how Feltham cars are suited to a sales environment that is less frenetic to auctions – it now seems that the buyers are closer in profile to pre-war Aston buyers while the James Bond effect makes the Superleggera models as appealing as ever.
Let’s hope that these market changes and price adjustments see less bloated inventories and, ultimately, more satisfied customers. The large inventories with their lower sales rates may deliver more net sales and higher revenues to the auction houses but they also leave more owners disillusioned with the process and potentially the classic car market.
More news from the Goodwood Revival next week, let’s see how they respond to the pricing issues.
© BYRON INTERNATIONAL
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