Bonhams’ Motor Cars has wrapped its Scottsdale sale — the company’s first car auction of 2021 — with 78% of the lots on offer sold and a final total of just under $5.9m. The auction cover car, a 1959 BMW 507, also achieved high sale honors after a tense bidding battle took it to a final price of $1,809,000, including buyer’s premium.
The 507 had spent its life in the United States and was fitted from new with the rare optional Becker Mexico radio. It had been owned by the grandson of RKO studios founder Shane O’Neil, and was offered for sale here out of a 30-year stay with a prominent private collector.
“We’re very happy to have got our year off to such a good start in Arizona,” said Jakob Greisen, Bonhams VP of US Motoring. “We had a lot of interest before and during the sale, reflected in a very satisfactory sell-through rate.”
The auction used Bonhams’ Live and Online format, which conducted the auction itself online while presenting the cars on location at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale for bidder inspection.
Other notable sales included a 1993 Land Rover Defender 110 NAS that doubled its low estimate, selling for $123,200. A 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 Sc Roadster sold for $698,000, while a 1992 Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione 1 made $182,000.
Watch for more coverage of this sale and more in the next issue of Linkage magazine. Not yet a subscriber? Sign up here.
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