An overview of the February Paris Classic Car Auctions
We always look to the Retromobile week’s auctions in Paris for pointers to the health of the Aston Martin market and with the majority of those No Reserve, no history cars that have so impacted the market over the past few years, perhaps the more measured Aston inventories of the major players – RM Sothebys, Bonhams and Artcurial – we can perhaps have a guide as to whether the shoots of recovery are matching the snowdrops and daffodils of this New Year.
Of course, the auction houses themselves will trumpet their world record sales of exotics like RM Sothebys with the 1964 Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti, chassis #5893, sold for a model record €34,880,000 ($36,344,960) – you only have to think about the auction commission on that car to see that RM enjoyed Paris. But aside from the inevitable excitement from that auction house, the general trends were a little flat. For example, Bonhams hopes of a Bugatti bonanza were dashed.
Porsches played a big part of the Paris auctions this year, with much of RM Sotheby’s Curated Collection taken up by the Stuttgart marque. They all sold, getting off to a good start with the 1985 Carrera 3.2 selling for an above-estimate €94,300. However, that would be one of few above-estimate highlights, with the majority selling for below estimate by a margin of around ten percent.
But what about Newport Pagnell’s finest – well a good barometer is what happens to the cars that sell and there was a green FLM Shooting Brake DB6 at RM Sothebys and there was initial disappointment in the €443.750 (£374,525) paid with premium by the German dealer, Grassman, who purchased the car. However, he was very quick to put the car on sale at €690,000. That still represented what would have appeared a bargain a few years back, but market optimism is always a welcome sign of returning health.
In general, the Astons fared reasonably against what were frankly modest auction estimates and the market is not quite out of the doldrums yet – however, modest auction inventories combined with returning marque enthusiasm indicate that 2025 could see those shoots of recovery after a few tough years.
For full Aston Martin results follow the link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xfyWwFP0JPmbmWGJhBydrJkwjYJfLzz_/view?usp=sharing
© Byron International
