Market Intelligence
RM Monterey. Excellent cake but no icing.
RM Sotheby's held a three-day auction of 159 cars, with 42 of the lots estimated to sell for over one million dollars, for a combined value of over $190.5 million. While the auction house managed to sell 88.68% of the lots offered, its biggest sale, the 1970 Porsche 917K used in the Steve McQueen film "Le Mans," went unsold. Out of the seven top lots on offer, three went unsold, lowering the sales percentage value. The two Aston Martin DB4 Zagatos from the Andrews collection failed to reach their estimates. The biggest success for RM came from a 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage, which set a new record for a non-Volante DB6 when it sold for $808,000.
Three days of auctions with 159 cars offered, forty-two of which were estimated at over one million dollars, for a combined value of over $190,500,000 ($161,929,000) or, if you prefer, an average of $1,198,000 per lot (€1,018, 000) are just some of the numbers with which RM Sotheby's, something I like to call the RM battleship, arrived at Pebble Beach and, despite presenting fewer lots than usual without reserve (39%), managed to sell 88.68% of them. A triumph? Not exactly, but certainly a victory, as in the end, with takings of $144,501,900 - which equates to over € 122 million – RM took home 75.85% of their initial estimate. Undoubtedly less than expected.
How can we interpret this result?
