Auction Reports


2023 Dec

Bonhams Bond Street Sale December 2023

Not the bounce we were hoping for


2023 Nov

Historics Auction at Mercedes Benz World

So much right, it deserved an even better outcome


2023 Nov

RM London Auction 4th November 2023

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”


2023 Sep

Aston Martin Auction Sales Results September 2023

Aston Martins presented for sale September 2023 at Gooding & Co and Bonhams


2023 Sep

Bonhams at the Revival 2023 - A Marathon not a Sprint

Auction report from the Bonhams Sale at the 2023 Goodwood Revival meeting


2023 Sep

Gooding’s London - A Curate’s Egg of a Sale

Goodings at Hampton Court September 1st 2023


2023 Jul

Goodwood in the Wind and the Rain – Festival of Speed 2023

Good cars or great cars attracted buyers and although prices have a little way to go, there is a market out there for well presented Astons with a good provenance


2023 May

Historics at Ascot 27th May 2023

So much right but still room for improvement


2022 Dec

Bonhams Bond Street 16th December 2022

Early Christmas Cheer?


2022 Aug

Popcorn and Pebble Beach

Car Sales and Concours


2022 Jun

Bonhams Auction at the Festival of Speed 2022

Don't caall the numbers - sell the car


2022 Apr

The Byron Report - Goodwood Members Meeting 2022

Mixed Messages for the Market?


2021 Dec

Bonhams at Bond Street 2021

A Good Sale for the Classic Market – Mixed Fortunes for Aston Martin


2021 Nov

RM Sothebys London – 6th November 2021

Not Quite What We Expected on the Eve of the London to Brighton Run


2021 Sep

Goodwood in the Autumn 2021

A Spirited Revival


2021 Jul

2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed Classic Auction

Back to normal – not quite!


2021 May

Aston Martins in May 2021

A review of auction action for Aston Martin Lagonda as we return to normal


2020 Dec

December 2020 Historics and Bonhams in the Market

Interesting changes in the auction world


2020 Oct

Goodwood Speedweek Auction Results - October 2020

Remote from Goodwood but close association


2020 Sep

Hampton Court Concours 2020

Sunshine and Room for Optimism


2020 Jul

Sunshine and Social Distancing Delivers for Historics at Windsorview Lakes July 2020

New venue for Historics in the sunshine


2020 May

Bonhams Bicester 30th May 2020 – The New Normal

First auction since lockdown!


2020 Mar

Historics by name – Historic by nature Ascot Auction 7th March 2020

Another marathon!


2019 Dec

The Bond Street Sale – 7th December 2019

 

The joys of December in London’s West End!

From Park Lane you see queues of people trying to get into Winter Wonderland then you struggle through the crowds on Oxford Street choosing to dodge busses in the road as better alternative to bag wielding shoppers shouldering their way to Christmas.

Even with a great attendance, the Bonhams salerooms were a comparative…


2019 Oct

RM Sotheby’s at Olympia 24th October 2019

A report from RM Sothebys at Olympia West on 24th October 2019


2019 Feb

Never Mind Waiting for Paris for Market Indicators – We’re Rolling!

Throughout the year, people are always looking for guides to the state of the market and early February in Paris with Retromobile is normally the first.  RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Artcurial all have inventories to sell but, if you’ve noticed, not many Astons!

So even ignoring the risks of the “gilets jaunes” its probably worth a miss for us – but then we have our own experiences…


2018 Sep

Another Revival at Goodwood? Rays of sunshine in the gloom.

Goodwood on a sunny September afternoon is getting more and more like the British Grand Prix as you trudge through the car parks looking at the inbound helicopters thinking wistfully – “next year!”

This is a wonderful event that seems to get bigger every year, not to mention harsher on the pocket - £18 for a programme? It is a little bit sad that as the commercial side outside the circuit…


2018 Sep

Byron International Goodwood Revival Pitstop with Vantage Engineering

This weekend will see the focus of the Classic Car market centred on the South Coast as Goodwood Race Circuit hosts the annual Goodwood Revival.

We will be there to report back on the auction scene but more importantly we have established a “reviver” of our own in association with Vantage Engineering in Rudgwick – A Goodwood Revival Pit Stop for…


2017 Mar

Goodwood Members Meeting Trump Headlines on Sussex Downs

The weathermen forecast a cloudy but dry Sunday but they didn’t warn of the wicked wind blowing up from the Channel which, like the Revival last year made the Bonhams marquee an occasionally crowded refuge.  And the location inside the perimeter of the circuit offered event visitors a glimpse of what was on offer but also made the sale a noisy affair as the PA system competed manfully with the circuit…


2017 Feb

Paris February 2017

Paris, so often the capital of style and arbiter of trends, let the classic car business down last week at Rétromobile with huge positivity, great crowds but mixed results.  Sales rates were down on Arizona with 77.92%, 71.53% and 76.76% for RM, Bonhams and Artcurial respectively

First out of the blocks were RM Sothebys with what was the smallest inventory of the three big guns in town. …


2017 Feb

Olympia Historic Automobile Fair

As an excited schoolboy I remember climbing the Monument in London to see the view from the top and feeling giddy from the experience then last summer, I visited the Shard and looked down trying to make out that original high point in the jungle of skyscrapers that makes up modern London’s skyline.

The reverse sensation hit me on Saturday when I visited the latest addition to the London…


2016 Dec

Birmingham, Brooklands and Bond Street

Birmingham, Brooklands and Bond Street


2016 Oct

“And the public gets what the public wants…”

“And the public gets what the public wants…”


2016 Sep

Sales Settling into a Rhythm when Realistic Prices and Enthusiastic Buyers Restore Confidence

If there were a collective noun for auctions “an avalanche of auctions” would be an apt description of the first two weeks of September.

 

It is interesting to see that after the peaky 80% + sales rates of August, the market has settled into a slightly more gentle rhythm:

 


2016 Sep

The Auction Markets June - August Buyers Looking for Value in a Busy Market

There will be many professionals in the market who will immediately ask “What busy market?”  Well you could start at Historics at Brooklands last month.  At 9.15 the persistent drizzle had turned into a downpour and with a mix of marquee and outside display, the outlook did not look good.  But by 10.00 the sun was shining, the displays were busy with prospective buyers and Edward Bridger-Stille…


2016 Feb

January / February Auctions Arizona Sunshine and Parisian Crowds

With news full of storms both political and meteorological, it is great to have our agenda focussed back into the business and January / February gets our marketplace moving with auctions on both sides of “The Pond”.

 And the sunshine of Arizona was a great way to see in the new season - Goodings had a slight edge in that they could focus on home ground while RM Sothebys and Bonhams had…


2015 Dec

Winter Auction Season

Just a week of December gone and we are already more than half way through this year’s Winter Auction Season.

Historics didn’t wait for December to get the ball rolling and showed their usual mixture of bravery and hard graft as the market pathfinders.  With no Aston Martins on parade, we followed the sale online and spoke to a number of people who attended. 

Like many of the current…


2015 Aug

Monterey 2015 – the Aston Martin Outlook

Each year the events surrounding the Monterey weekend appear to have increasing impact on the prices of what has become a global commodity.

The Press Offices of Bonhams, RM Sothebys and Goodings have been churning out news of world record prices and enormous inventory revenues but while many among you will be following Maranello’s finest or the Stuttgart flying machines, at Byron International,…


2015 Apr

Coys Auction – Techno Classica Essen 18th April 2015

Since we came on our recce of Techno Classica in 2013, everything has got a lot bigger and that includes Coys auction that takes place here on the Saturday afternoon.  And for once, bigger seems to be better – certainly the auction experience.  In 2013, the venue was cramped, there weren’t enough chairs and the auctioneer’s assistant was making apologies for her poor German.

How different…


2015 Mar

COYS Spring Classics London 10th March 2015.

Unlike their auction at the end of 2014 at the same venue, there was room to breathe at Lindley Hall last night, in fact the audience was positively sparse.  Whether it was the smaller crowd or a degree of familiarity with some of the inventory, there was a definite lack of energy in the room.

After a low key start with a Lamborghini marine engine, a Beetle Convertible, a Ferrari 400 and…


2014 Dec

Winter Auction Season II

The second half of the Winter Auction season promised to be an interesting mix.  There were very traditional offerings - first H & H with in the surroundings of Chateau Impney and whilst Bonhams moved from the sophistication of New Bond Street to the familiarity of the RAF Museum at Hendon.

But RM, with an eye watering selection of automotive art chose the 10th floor of a New…


2014 Dec

Year End Auctions 2014

The classic car market has been a real roller coaster in 2014 – pessimists have continually talked of the bubble bursting.  They even prompted the London Daily Telegraph to publish an article on talk of a crash – but some the optimists and all of the realists have kept the balls in the air and the market has defied the doom mongers. 

The usual end of year flurry of auctions started in France…


2014 Nov

Silverstone Auctions at the Classic Motor Show at the NEC

The end of year auctions are nearly upon us and the Aston Martin market had an interesting boost at last weekend’s Classic Motor Show at the NEC.  Silverstone Auctions ran sales on both the Saturday and Sunday and their Aston Martin content comprised of a range of cars that came into the realm of affordability for enthusiasts.

First out of the blocks was a 2002 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante. …


2014 Sep

Goodwood Revival Sale - 15th September 2014.

There was a time when you walked toward Goodwood Circuit from the car park and came across an auction marquee standing a little forlorn with only the odd Burger Van for company – now, there is a show within a show or should it be outside a show? Through the ‘50’s car parking, the funfair, the Butlin’s skate arena and stalls from Classic and Aston Martin specialists to wooden sculptures.

On…


2014 Sep

Salon Prive Sale with Silverstone Auctions

The Autumn auction round kicked off at Syon Park, London last night with Silverstone Auctions partnering Salon Prive.  The sale attendance appeared outstanding in spite of chaotic organisation of parking and access.

The layout was much the same as when the previous incumbents, RM Auctions, ran a sale a couple of years ago - even the structures and layout were the same.  Sadly Silverstone’s…


2014 Jun

Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale Friday 27th June 2014

The forecasters had warned of rain.  But the organisers are ready for that – Lord March was once asked how they cope with bad weather and said that they plan for rain and if it doesn’t come then it is a bonus.  And the crowds had that bonus on Friday – lots of furled umbrellas together with carried coats added to the burden of carrying a Bonhams catalogue around the event – this year’s was the size…


2014 Feb

Retromobile Paris 2014.

The annual Retromobile Exhibition in Paris increases in popularity every year and those visitor numbers are not only driven by the 420 plus exhibitors but also the opportunity to attend one or more of the three auctions that happen during the week.  It offers us an invaluable first take on the International Aston Martin market as the marque is always well represented and 2014 was no exception.

First…


2013 Dec

End of Year Market Overview Winter Auction Report Part 2

Because they serve two masters, the Buyers and the Sellers, auctions are always presented with a quandary when building a catalogue.  It is the issue of establishing estimates – they want to set them low to attract Buyers but know that if they set them too low, the Sellers will be reluctant to commit their car to the sale.

Some will overcome this by setting attractive estimates for Sellers…


2013 Dec

End of Year Market Overview Winter Auction Report Part 1

The flurry of auctions at this time of year are as clear a harbinger of Winter as a seasonal flurry of snow.  They can provide useful indicators of market resilience, as well as pointers to the next year’s trading.  2013 there was an added dimension provided by Bonhams – less an auction, more a market positioning statement.

 But first out of the blocks were Historics.  With a huge and varied…


2013 Sep

Autumn Auctions Round-up 2013

We always look forward to the market’s energetic return after the Summer break and this year the first two weeks of September got everyone in the swing with major auctions from Bonhams and RM.

Bonhams got the ball rolling with their annual appearance at the Beaulieu Autojumble with a large and mixed inventory.  There were three Astons entered in the sale and, with its inventory targeted…


2013 Jul

Bonhams Sale Festival of Speed July 2013.

The Festival of Speed at Goodwood just keeps growing – huge motor manufacturer presence both in the number represented and the scale of their display structures.  And for an event that plans for rain, the arrival of a heat wave just built attendance and the enjoyment.

The marquee behind Goodwood House that houses Bonhams sale reflected the main event – huge crowds and overwhelming heat. …


2013 Apr

Techno Classica Essen 2013

2013 marked the 25th Anniversary of this fabulous celebration of classic cars.  Only a few short hours of motorway driving gets you up from Calais and while the unashamedly industrial city of Essen won’t be on anyone’s holiday itinerary, the great exhibition hall has become a real point of pilgrimage for classic enthusiasts.

Huge commitment is shown by Mercedes and BMW, seamlessly…


2013 Mar

Mad March Spring Auctions Deliver Mixed Messages

It’s March and they’re off…..no, not the steeplechasers at Cheltenham, the auction houses round the country,  Bonhams, Historics and Coys, have all been in action in the past 10 days. Bonhams are clearly hoovering up Aston entries for Works Service in May, so Aston Martins were thin on the ground, so it is a good time to look at the general classic market both in terms of the auction houses and…


2012 Dec

Winter Auction Season 2012 – A Strong Finish to the Year for Some

This time of year sees a final flourish from the main UK auction houses and never mind the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, these sales give some straightforward indicators of the strength of the market and the outlook for the New Year.

Historics kicked off with their sale at Brooklands last Saturday 1stDecember –well attended, it delivered some very good results and strong indicators…


2012 Nov

RM Auctions – London 31st October 2012

At the Tuesday Preview evening, there was plenty of opportunity to see why RM are at the top of their game.  In one corner, the valeters had masked the chrome on a DB5 Convertible to ensure no blemishes from their efforts with the electric polishers.  All the cars were displayed with thought and at the best possible advantage and interestingly the layout had changed with the catering area now facing…


2012 Oct

Coys Spirit of Motoring Ascot 13th October

After a very average sale at Historics followed by a reportedly mediocre effort by H & H at Newbury, we approached Coys annual Ascot offering with a sense that perhaps the classic car market was falling – it was a mood not helped by an apocalyptic hail storm as we arrived and the low numbers of people there an hour before the sale.

Fortunately a delay in the start of the sale, to allow a…


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