Auction Recap: RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2016

RM Sotheby’s conducted its biennial Monaco auction this past weekend, May 14. In all, 83 of the 114 vehicles offered for sale found new homes (a 73 percent sell-through rate) to the tune of $31.0M. Overall totals were below the company’s previous efforts at the venue dating back to 2010, demonstrating that European buyers are presently being even more cautious than American buyers, particularly at the top end of the classic car market.

While results were down, it wasn’t for want of consignments. Indeed, RM Sotheby’s managed to bring a rare Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spider to auction—the first time since 2013 that any of the 10 built have been offered publicly. Unfortunately, while the previous example achieved a magnanimous $27.5M result in Monterey, this car—the last of the 10 built—topped out at $19.21M before being passed. Nonetheless, the auction’s other star car, a fantastic Le Mans and Mille Miglia veteran 1951 Ferrari 340 America Barchetta, sold for slightly more than $8.2M, including buyer’s premium. The amount exceeded the car’s low estimate and represented a record for an open 340 at auction.

Other strong sales were evident with $3.13M paid for the only street-legal Porsche 911 GT1 race car, $759,799 for a rare 1995 Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Jota coupe, and $2.03M for a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTS Spider—a figure that disputes recently sliding sales figures for the model.

A record-setting $384,968 was spent on a 2004 Aston Martin DB AR1 that previously sold in 2010 for $170,500, showing how much this particular model’s esteem has grown during the last half decade. Lastly, a low-mile 1977 MV Agusta 750 S America motorcycle did exceedingly well to score a final price of $121,237 against a high estimate of $90,000.

On the soft side, a right-hand drive 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster disappointed at $147,571, a 1968 Ferrari 330 GTC was also well shy of market value at $551,788, and a 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental Fastback justifiably failed to sell at high bid of $700,600.