Book Review ... Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2016 - 2017


Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2016 - 2017

Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2016 - 2017

 

The latest edition of the Classic Car Auction Yearbook, sponsored by Credit Suisse for the ninth successive year, covering the period 01 September 2016 to 31 August 2017, is now available. As with the previous two editions, the end of August cut-off date allows for the inclusion of all the major auctions in Monterey, California, during that month, as they are widely considered as the most up to date indication of market trends and prices. The authors are renowned classic car historians Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi, and how they manage to collate and publish all the information in such a short space of time never ceases to amaze me. For the past 24 years (this is the 21st edition of what started as the Catalogo Bolaffi) they have produced this fascinating in-depth and informative overview of the international classic car auction market, featuring the results of sales by all the major auction houses. Apart from a plethora of facts and figures, there are also market comments and trend views from directors of four of the leading auction houses, Artcurial, Bonhams, Gooding & Company and RM Sotheby’s.

The book is a large format (240mm x 315mm) hardback edition, printed on good quality gloss paper. As a now regular feature, the cover depicts the most valuable car sold at auction during the period in question, and in the 2016 -2017period it was a 1956 Aston Martin DBR1, which achieved US$22,550,000 at the RM Sotheby’s auction in Monterey in August 2017. This was not only a record price for the marque, but also for a British car at auction. It is not only the older classics that command strong money, because, as the book shows, a 1995 McLaren F1road car achieved  $15,620,000 at the Bonhams sale in Monterey in the same week, giving it the number two slot in the top ten sales chart.

The 2016 - 2017 edition runs to 416 pages, crammed with a multitude of facts and figures in different forms, much of which has been expanded and simplified from previous editions. It also provides an alphabetical descriptive list of the cars offered at auction during the period that the book covers, with the sale price including buyer’s premium quoted in US Dollars, Pounds Sterling and Euros, based on the exchange rate at the time of the auctions in question. The book also features graphical analysis of trends, i.e. for specific manufacturing periods, or different marques, along with an incredible amount of other useful and fascinating information.

The Yearbook is considered as “The Bible” by many associated with collecting, buying and selling classic cars, and even for the general classic car enthusiast it makes for compelling reading. It is available from most major motoring booksellers, although if there is any difficulty in obtaining a copy, visit the Classic Car Auction Yearbook website.


ISBN: 978-88-96232-09-5

Mainland Europe Retail Price €70 (Check for prices in other countries)

 

Keith Bluemel         
11/2017



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