The Bonhams Paris Auction 2013 was held Thursday 7th February at the Grand Palais in Paris, resulting in nearly €13 million in total sales and a 69% sales rate.
Held during Salon Retromobile week, the Bonhams Paris sale saw 86 motor cars, 84 motorcycles, and more than 100 lots of automobilia change hands, with successful bidders from 27 countries.
The top result at the 2013 Bonhams Paris auction went to a 1929 Bentley 6 1/2-Litre Speed Six Tourer that beat its pre-sale estimate to realise €828,000, followed by a 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Vantage cabriolet that more than doubled its estimate at €805,000 and the 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Coupe, formerly owned by Ettore Bugatti himself, that sold for €690,000.
Meanwhile the collection of former architect Charles H Brown realised over €1.2 million, with the top-selling lot a 1931 Bentley 8-litre Sports tourer at €483,000. Outside the collection, a 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I ‘Playboy Roadster’ that was formerly in the collection of multi-millionaire Jerry J. Moore realised €287,500.
The airplane which featured in the seven-time Oscar-winning 1985 film ‘Out of Africa’ is on its way back to the country after nearly three decades, after finding a new home in Kenya. The 1929 American Moth Corporation De Havilland 60GMW Gipsy Moth bi-plane which featured in the Sydney Pollack-directed movie starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford sold for €201,250 to an anonymous telephone bidder at the auction. The sale set a new world record for a Gipsy Moth.
In the motorcycle section, two headline collections realised a combined total of almost €600,000. Top-selling lot in the Garelli Grand Prix Collection was a 1926 Garelli 348cc Racing Motorcycle at €29,900, while a 1917 Indian 7hp Powerplus led the way among the bikes of the late Claude Lesellier, selling for €28,750.
Top motorcycle lots were a 1968 Egli-Vincent 998cc Racing Motorcycle at €40,250, a 1952 Vincent 998cc Series-C Rapide at €37,950 and a c.1941 Zundapp KS750 ‘Sahara’ Motorcycle Combination at €35,650. Immediately after the auction, a 1925 Coventry-Eagle 980cc Flying-8 Sidevalve was sold for €40,090.
On the automobilia side a fine cased picnic set for six persons by G W Scott & Sons, c.1910, was the top lot at €23,750. Meanwhile, one of only five 1:8 scale models of a Bugatti Type 57S ‘rolling chassis’ constructed by master craftsman Jean-Paul Fontenelle sold for €12,500 and a Bugatti radiator realised €6,250.
Philip Kantor, Head of the Mainland European Motoring department, said, “We are delighted to have returned to the Grand Palais, the spiritual home of not only motor cars but also aeroplanes in the centre of Paris. Following a 1,200-person reception the night before, bidders turned up in large numbers for a marathon 11-hour sale, resulting in 80 per cent of lots sold across the board.”
Bonhams Grand Palais Paris 2013 – Top Ten Auction Results
1. 1929 Bentley 6 1/2-Litre Speed Six Tourer – €828,000
2. 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Vantage Cabriolet – €805,000
3. 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Coupe – €690,000
4. 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet – €672,750
5. 1938 Lancia Astura Series IV Cabriolet – €667,000
6. 1953 Bentley R-Type Continental Sports Saloon – €575,000
7. 1966 Porsche Type 906 Carrera Coupe – €540,500
8. 1931 Bentley 8-Litre Sports Tourer – €483,000
9. 1939 Horch 853A Cabriolet – €379,500
10. 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I ‘Playboy Roadster’ – €287,500
10. 1950 Talbot-Lago Record Grand Sport Cabriolet – €287,500
10. 1929 Minerva Type AK Faux Cabriolet – €287,500
For complete results, visit www.bonhams.com.
James Knight, Group Motoring Director, added, “The global motoring department has enjoyed a stellar start to the year. The highly successful Paris auction follows on from the success that the US division recently achieved in Las Vegas (Motorcycles) and Scottsdale (Motor Cars). Yet again motor cars were sourced for the Paris Sale from teams on both sides of the Atlantic, demonstrating a global approach to our blue riband Sales.”
[Source: Bonhams]
