Bonhams at Scottsdale
Bonhams has been in business since 1793 and has positioned itself near the top of the auction house food chain for everything from cars to artwork to jewelry. The company has a reputation for bringing out the finest of fine high-end collector and classic automobiles, particularly of a European bent. This year’s mix of 108 cars, presented at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, was possibly one of the most diverse we’ve seen from it to date: brass-era beauties, prewar full classics, exotics, supercars, hypercars, stealthy sedans, off-roaders, and a surprising number of bona fide muscle cars. You can read more about this last category in detail in an upcoming issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.
Bonhams’ midday auction, held on Thursday, January 16, meant that only serious buyers were on hand. Total sales for the day finished at $8.4 million, and the sell-through was a respectable 81.5 percent, with 88 of 108 lots changing hands, and nearly a $96,000 average price. This must have been an eye-opener for the auction house, though, as results were just over half that of last year’s $16.1 million in sales; the lower average sale price (down from $149,000 in 2019) and sell-through (90 percent last year) were also potentially concerning numbers.
Top seller at the event was a 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter cabriolet, for $1,930,000 — fully 23 percent of the house’s intake for the day. The top-10 cars combined totaled
