Market Intelligence
Europe. Great start… actually a good one for Artcurial in Paris
The recent auction at Artcurial Paris started off strong with 25 out of 26 lots sold and 107% of the estimated value reached, but the sale reversed with just one lot out of the next 13 sold. Despite this, the auction was still successful, with a total of €18.2 million in sales, a 14% decrease from last year but with 75% fewer cars. The Matra Simca MS670, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972, was the highlight of the auction, selling for €6,907,200. A 1959 Aston Martin DB4 GT and a 1995 Ferrari 355 Challenge were also sold, but with mixed results. The auction followed a new trend of few, high-quality cars with reasonable reserves, resulting in a stratospheric average sale price of €700,692 per sale.
The auction law will never be put in writing: Artcurial Paris confirmed this: the first part was a clear success with 25 lots out of 26 sold and 107% of the estimated value reached (despite a Porsche 550RS Spider estimated at €3.8 million going unsold). Then the sale reversed: out of the next 13 lots, just one changed hands; just under €200,000 takings out of more than €7.7 million originally estimated. Very odd. A balance sheet which started out as excellent turned into a positive one. Let's attempt to understand why.
This time Artcurial followed the new (and successful) trend we first saw in Arizona. Few, high quality cars, often with reasonable reserves. The numbers confirm our theory: in 2020 with 105 cars sold out of 150 on offer, they took home just under €21.2 million with an average sale price of €201,533 per lot. This year, with a quarter of the cars sold (26 out of 42 on offer) they secured €18.2 million in sales, just 14% less with over 75% fewer cars. The result? A stratospheric average of €700,692 per sale! This data was confirmed by the percentage of turnover compared to the original estimates, which equated to 74% compared to 61% last year.
