Market Intelligence
RM and Bonhams: America to the rescue!
The Amelia Island event held in March 2022 was one of the most significant events in the automobile world. This was due to the fact that it was held after the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the vaccination campaign at full speed across the USA, events like these are now finally being held in person again. RM Sotheby's performed exceptionally well with 99 lots on offer and 92 sold, which took home $40,636,940. The auction was highlighted by the pre-war segment, which exceeded the best estimates, and the seven most expensive lots sold by Bonhams were all pre-wars. The top lot was a Mercedes-Benz 500K/540K Spezial Roadster from Howard Fafard's collection, which sold for $4,900,000. Overall, the event created waves in the automobile world, with beautiful cars, high prices and a lot of euphoria around the return of in-person events.
Amelia Island this year wasn’t just one of the most important events of the year, it was the event par excellence, the one to follow in even the smallest of details. The reason is easy to understand: it was the last big event before the pandemic hit (6th-7th March 2020, although it feels like an eternity has passed) and the first one held “after”. That’s right, because with the vaccination campaign at full speed across the USA, events like these are now finally being held in presence once again with many hands being raised. And after a long abstinence, there was a lot of euphoria about buying.
Bonhams replicated last year’s numbers ($20.7 million versus $21 million in 2020) because it proposed just one “heavyweight” lot. This is easy to see when you look at the total value estimates: $32.3 million in 2020, compared with $23.4 million this year. Despite this, turnover fell by just 1.4% despite a theoretical value in the region of 27.5% less. Spectacular.
