BETWEEN SHADOW AND LIGHT FROM PEBBLE BEACH TO HAMPTON COURT

As the California golf course lawns have emptied, and the ink on the sales contracts has dried, it is time to decipher the numbers to understand what really happened this summer on the American peninsula.
With impressive auction catalogs, the weight of millions has finally slowed down the machine... While 2022 was a success on all fronts, 2023 will fall short of the goals set by the four American houses operating during the hectic Pebble Beach week. Before diving into the details and focusing on the Ferrari market, it is important to gauge the major market trends and its directions. Although it is younger, it is interesting to note that the average age of the cars offered remained at 59 years (1964), but the number of cars presented exploded from 572 to 648, largely due to the young Broad Arrow house, which increased from 90 to 169 cars. At the risk of appearing pessimistic (which I am not), the increase in the number of cars presented is indeed the only figure on the rise in 2023 because all performance indicators have declined: sales rate, sales below the estimate, average price, sales above the estimate... Just before the COVID crisis hit, 2019 marked a real slowdown in the Monterey market. The 2023 edition will also leave mixed memories.
While American collectors are more "adventurous" than their counterparts in old Europe, sellers who signed up for "No Reserve" must have had headaches! Helped by a significant quantity of "No Reserve" offerings (52% + 10% compared to 2022), RM Sotheby's and Gooding posted sales rates of 86% and 80%, respectively, down 9 and 5 points. This directly resulted in a sharp increase in the percentage of cars sold below the low estimate (rising from 50% to 65% in 2023), and the average value of cars sold also dropped to $681,163, compared to $813,967 in 2022. Of course, there are some exceptions hidden in these figures, and in this regard, the prancing horse brand stands out, thanks in large part to the sale of the Ferrari 412 P for over $30 million. In the end, since January 1st, four of the top five cars of the year are Ferraris, totaling $78 million on their own.
As mentioned earlier in these lines, the most interesting aspect, in my opinion, is the age of the cars presented and, for the first time, the number of pre-war cars landing on the auction market. We must broaden the spectrum and temporarily set Ferrari aside to explain this, but you will understand that everything is ultimately connected. In a changing market where blockbusters come from the 1980s to 2000s, the 1960s have once again been the headliners, closely followed by cars from the 1910s to the 1930s. In this category, the performance of Gooding & Co is noteworthy, with three cars from 1912, 1914, and 1933 in the top 10, with prices exceeding $4 million. On its side, RM Sotheby's, failing to sell its 250 LM #6053 estimated between $18M and $20M, managed to place its 1957 Jaguar XKSS in second place for over $13M. The average age of the Top Ten in 2023 is therefore 61 years...
Seeing cars that have never left the same family or the hands of the same owner for over 40 years is a testament to a transition planned by collectors advancing in age and managing their heritage. Those who bought in the 1980s are passing the torch, and fortunately, the market is responding favorably. The best example is undoubtedly the sale of the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #3507 by Gooding & Co for over $9.4M. Its pristine original condition and its four successive owners had kept it off the market since 1967! Its well-deserved price makes it the 7th highest auction result of the year.
Without further ado, the sale of the Lost and Found collection at RM Sotheby's was one of the most anticipated of the week. Bringing together twenty Ferraris owned by the solitary collector Walter Medlin, it generated a lot of discussion. Led by its 1965 275 GTB/6C at $3.3M, the collection alone achieved a result of over $26 million. Despite empty chairs in the Portola room (a first!), the bidding was competitive with a large number of European buyers. While the winning bid for the ex-Targa Florio GTB/C came from an American collector (a solid price considering its modified steel nose), what was left of the Ferrari 500 Mondial Spider Series I Pinin Farina will join the garage of a European collector for nearly $1.9M... a price that some may find disappointing but should be viewed in perspective with the $2.1M obtained for the 500 Mondial #0430 MD sold by Gooding at Pebble Beach in 2022.
To conclude the chapter on Pebble Beach, the $4.2M obtained by Broad Arrow for its Ferrari F50 is a disappointing result compared to the $5 million and more achieved in March 2023 and December 2022 by a competing house. The same goes for the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider ex-Targa Florio, which sold post-sale for between $8.5 million and $8.9 million, making it one of the lowest prices reached by a 250 California Spider SWB in the last 10 years. The time spent on the market without finding a buyer, its regularly modified front end, and its non-faired headlights are explanations.
My analysis would not be complete without looking at the results achieved at the Hampton Court Concours in London. With 55% of lots sold, Gooding & Co leaves with results well below its expectations despite the expertise of its auctioneer Charlie Ross and the prestige of the London concours. The catalog's somewhat "non-exotic" offerings and the prevailing gloom in Europe since the beginning of the year did not help, but it is worth noting the sale of two 1950s Ferraris. The first is a very nice 1954 250 GT Europa estimated between $1.6M and $1.9M, which slightly exceeded its high estimate, and one of the stars of the sale, the Ferrari 166 MM/53 Spider, which sold at the low estimate for $3.2M. Coming directly from a collection for 63 years, it was the 5th of the 6 Vignale Spider bodies produced and the 11th of the 13 chassis built... It perfectly reflects what should be remembered from this article. It leaves a pioneer collector's possession after 63 years in his garage and changes hands for the price of an F40 produced in 1,311 units.

Contact
Gautier Rossignol Director of the Department
+33 7 45 13 75 78
rossignol@aguttes.com