Bonhams Raised £2.45 Mil. at Goodwood

It was a success for Bonhams at the annual sale held the past weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, since the auction house managed to raise a total of £2.45 million, closing the auction with a sell-through rate of almost 80 percent.

“The overall results of the sale are pleasing and complement our year to-date figures well. We achieved much interest for motor cars that are important, rare and seldom seen on the open market,” said James Knight, Group Head of Bonhams Motoring Department.

The organizers were thrilled about one particular model, the 1922 Sunbeam 2-liter Strasbourg Grand Prix Works Racing Car, that sold for a record auction price of £463,500, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £300,000. Another record lot for Bonhams was the 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S Berlinetta with a £359,000 result.

“This was amply demonstrated by the tenacious bidding on the 1922 Grand Prix Sunbeam and I was also impressed by the price realised for the exceptional Lamborghini Miura. The were one or two casualties, however, and more general motor cars – those not particularly rare or compromised by condition or provenance - need to be priced realistically to attract interest,” added Knight.

Moreover, as we were telling you last week, Bonhams also had the Celebrity MINI (last driven by Top Gear’s The Stig), to be sold on behalf of the British Forces Foundation’s ‘Lap of Honour’ campaign. The car went on to sell for £29,000 (£17,000 more than the estimate of £10,000-£14,000).

The money will go to the support of British Forces Foundation’s Lap of Honour charity, which aims to raise the spirit among Britain’s Armed Forces.

The Automobilila section proved similarly popular with bidders. In particular, Lot 228 – number plate ‘GPR 1 X’ achieved £10,350. Meanwhile a collection of pre-WW1 and WWII BARC Brooklands member’s lapel badges reached £7,820, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £2,200-2,600.