For many, the Classic Car Auction Yearbook is the "Bible". In contrast to this religious reference work, however, the Yearbook has only been published since 1994, but has been completely new and with different content since then. The 27th edition is now available and it is even more comprehensive than previous editions, but has also become somewhat more expensive.
Adolfo Orsi, who has been publishing the book alone for a year now, has not made things easy for himself. Corona has had a major impact on the auction industry, and new generations are showing different buying patterns and preferences. Unlike in 1994, when probably no one collected auction data in a structured way, there are now many different platforms, most of which offer an insight into the results of auctions online (zwischengas.com is one of them). In addition, expensive cars are increasingly being traded online and sometimes even fetch higher prices than at traditional auctions with an audience and hammer blows. Orsi therefore decided to include transactions on online platforms such as Bring-a-Trailer, Collecting Cars or TheMarket (Bonhams), at least if the value of the cars was over USD 200,000 or if they were interesting classics from Porsche, Ferrari and other brands.
Accordingly, the total turnover across all sales considered rose to USD 1.929 billion, almost double that of the previous year. However, the online auction houses only accounted for around USD 340 million of this increase, with the remainder coming from increases in turnover at the traditional auction houses.
However, the USD 340 million also includes the Mercedes-Benz SLR Uhlenhaut, auctioned in a secret auction by RM/Sotheby's, and USD 142.7 million was paid for this car, making the Benz the most expensive car of all time.
Extensive work
The new book lists a total of 8431 transactions relating to cars from 353 brands. 23 auction houses are listed in the yearbook: Aguttes, Artcurial, Barret&Jackson, Bingo (Japan), Bolaffi, Bonhams, Bring a Trailer, Broad Arrow Auctions, Collecting Cars, Finarte, Gooding & Co, Halcyon, H&H, Historics Auctioneers, Mecum, Oldtimer Galerie Toffen (partial), Osenat, RM/Sotheby's, Sotheby's, Silverstone Auctions, Wannenes Group, Worldwide Auctioneers.
310 of the 416 pages are devoted to the 8431 cars on offer, each of which is presented with basic details and the sale price in various currencies. There are also photos of some of the cars, but with a total of 973 color photos, they can of course only be illustrated selectively.
In-depth analysis
The analytical review of the auction year under review (September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2022) comprises around 76 pages (including advertising). Adolfo Orsi uses his immense pile of data and experience to guide the reader through the changes in the auction business, explaining how bidders' interests are shifting and how this in turn affects the performance of the cars. You do need to take a bit of time to work through the comprehensive analysis.
For example, he explains how young cars, or rather their value at auction, practically doubled from 2021 to 2022. Cars built after 2000 already account for 19.99% of the stock, and "modern" cars (1975-1999) are also strongly represented at the auctions with 21.49%.
The sales results of vehicles that have already been traded in the past (identical chassis number) are always interesting. If you look at these pages, you can see how the popularity of some models has substantially increased or significantly decreased.
Pages 51 to 59 are exciting, at least for collectors of expensive cars, because here certain vehicle types are analyzed over 29 years. Not only are the price curves shown for some of them, but also the number of examples traded per year and the total sales of this vehicle type over the year. Here you can quickly see that the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL is still increasing in value, while the Jaguar E-Type is weakening a little. However, young cars such as the Ferrari 40 and the Porsche 959 in particular have really increased in value, with valuations at auctions literally exploding.
Comments from the auction houses
The comments from representatives of the major auction houses, such as David Gooding (Gooding & Co), Philip Kantor (Bonhams) and Mathieu Lamoure (Artcurial), are always interesting. They reflect on the last 12 months and give their feelings on where the business is heading, what is in demand and what is less so. For the first time, Edward Lovett (Collecting Cars), a purely online auction house, will also be represented. Kenneth Ahn, President of the newly founded auction house Broad Arrow Auctions, will also be commenting. BAA made its first public appearance in 2022 and already has two successful auctions behind it, which catapulted the new provider straight into the top group.
For the collector and professional
The new edition of the Auction Yearbook with a redesigned cover page is certainly worth a place in the bookshelf if you are interested in the performance of expensive and sought-after classics. Those who are more interested in VW Beetles or Citroën 2 CVs will find a few examples in Orsi, but certainly not a complete market analysis.
Incidentally, the book also has some entertainment value, because if you leaf through the pages from 398 onwards, you will come across the top five auction results for the individual years from 1993 onwards. And especially in the early days, the prices paid for even the most beautiful classics were much lower than they are today; after all, a Ferrari 625 TF barchetta from 1953 made it into the top five of the 1996-1997 vintage at USD 876,217.
Bibliographical details
- Title: The Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2021 - 2022
- Author/Editor: Adolfo Orsi
- Language: English
- Publisher: Historica Selecta SRL
- Edition: 1st edition October 2022
- Format: Hardcover, 24.3 x 31.5 cm
- Size: 416 pages, 973 color and black & white illustrations, many graphics
- Price: EUR 90.00 / CHF 93.00
- ISBN: 978-88-96232-14-9
- Buy/order: Online at BM Classics or at other booksellers recommended by Historica Selecta
