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Cleaned out

Cleaned out – RM Sotheby’s London sale 2015

Monday’s RM Sotheby’s sale brought with it both protest and price drops

 

On Monday in London, RM Sotheby’s conducted their annual auction in Battersea Park. It featured a highlight of a 1958 Ferrari 250 TDF that eventually sold for a hammer price of £4.25 million (against an estimate of £4.5 million to £5.5 million) but what was most notable was that many lots simply failed to sell or went at prices on or below their lower guides.

 

The ‘star car’ – a 1968 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta – went for £250,000 under its lower guide

 

At the sale in 2014, a 1984 Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 shot through the price ceiling and sold for £140,000 (on a guide of £60,000 to £95,000) but this time, the story was very different. A nigh on identical car (guided at a punchy £120,000 to £150,000) passed after bidding peaked at £90,000.

 

The 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I – featured on these pages previously – owned by the Bond franchise set designer Sir Ken Adam performed reasonably and went for £195,000 (guide £175,000 to £200,000) but a 1964 Maserati Mistral 3.7 Spyder once owned by Diana Dors scraped through at £5,000 under its £475,000 lower guide at £470,000.

 

Protestors made their presence known but their efforts to attract support seemed somewhat of a damp squib
Though Bernie Ecclestone was the only personality to put in an appearance others who made an effort to showcase their sartorial efforts included these two gents
Matthew Steeples with the Rolls-Royce offered by Sir Ken Adam OBE

 

Outside the auction, there was another kind of activity as a large group of protestors from a group named the United Voices of the World Union had gathered to highlight the plight of two dismissed Sotheby’s cleaning workers. They made a lot of noise but didn’t seem to drum up much support and thus, along with flatlining prices, all in all, we can only report that the evening was a bit of a cleanout for all concerned.

 

 

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