HomeMediaRM Sotheby's Guikas Collection auction does $44.454 million

RM Sotheby’s Guikas Collection auction does $44.454 million

RM Sotheby’s sale in France is the company’s first accepting cryptocurrency

-

With sales totaling $44.454 million, RM Sotheby’s sale this past weekend of The Guikas Collection rates among the top-10 single-consignor collector car auctions ever. 

That $44.454 million figure (converted from €39,532,700 as the sale was staged in France) ranks well up on the all-time list. Topping that list is the more than $100 million generated by the Kruse’s sale of the Harrah Collection in the late 1980s. 

RM Sotheby’s dominates the list, having managed the Paul and Chris Andrews Collection which generated $87.38 million in two auctions, the Pinnacle Collection which did $75.4 million in 2015, the 2000 Wheels sale at $58.85 million in 2016, and now the Guikas Collection, which just edges ahead of the RM’s Elkhart Collection and Gooding & Company’s Passion of a Lifetime event, both in 2020.

Jean Guikas was a teenager when he saw a Ferrari Daytona on the streets of his hometown in the south of France in 1970. As RM Sotheby’s relays the story, “Upon hearing the excitement and passion in his young son’s voice after his first encounter with the car, the elder Mr. Guikas managed to track down the owner of the car and put it in their own garage only a few short months later. A young Jean was now hooked and a life-long passion for Ferraris and all interesting high-performance automobiles was launched.”

At age 19, the younger Jean purchased a used Ferrari 250 GT PF coupe and then a Daytona coupe that the Ferrari workshops in Italy converted from a racing car to one that was street legal.

In 1989, Jean sold his interest in the family shipping business to establish GTC, his own company that bought and sold collector cars on a full-time basis.

The RM Sotheby’s sale involved 77 vehicles and was held at the Paul Ricard racing circuit in Le Castellet, France, where several of the cars were driven on the track on their way to the auction block.

In addition to the unusual setting, the auction was the first at which RM Sotheby’s accepted payment from bidders in cryptocurrency.

“Cryptocurrency has become a significant part of the financial landscape and is now the way many people are choosing to conduct transactions on significant investments,” RM Sotheby’s chief strategy officer Byron Madsen was quoted. “We want to maintain true to the needs of our clients as well as those who are just getting into the collector car market.  

“The role that cryptocurrency will play within the collector car market will only expand in the future.”

The auction, which involved only part of Guikas’ collection, drew bidders from 38 nations, according to RM Sotheby’s news release.

1955 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione

The top sale of the auction was fora 1955 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta Competizione (Chassis 0385 GT) that was unveiled with unique coachwork at the 1955 Turin Motor Show. The car sold for €6,192,500 ($6,959,646).

Ferraris dominated the sale, a 1958 250 GT Series 1 cabriolet by Pinin Farina, the 23rd of 40 produced, bringing €4,420,625 ($4,968,963) and a 1-of-12 2005 575 GTC, going for €2,648,750 ($2,977,017).

Among other noteworthy sales was a 1975 Iso Grifo a3/C formerly owned by French entertainer Philippe Smet (aka Johnny Hallyday) that brought €1,805,000 ($2,028,609), an auction record price for that model.

1965 Iso Grifo A3/C

Top-10 sales, RM Sotheby’s Guikas Collection 2021

  1. 1955 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione, $6,959,646
  2. 1958 Ferrari 250 Gt Cabriolet Series 1, $4,968,963
  3. 2005 Ferrari 575 GTC, $2,977,017
  4. 1976 Renault-Alpine A442, $2,534,341
  5. 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB, $2,407,838
  6. 1981 Ferrari 512 BB/LM, $2,218,158
  7. 1965 Iso Grifo A3/C, $2,028,609
  8. 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400, $1,017,066
  9. 1933 Delage D8 S cabriolet, $953,929
  10. 1993 Jaguar XJ220 C LM, $928,641

(Prices include buyer’s fee.)

RM Sotheby’s next live auction is scheduled for January 27 at Phoenix, Arizona.

Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

spot_img