RM Sotheby’s Arizona
During Scottsdale’s auction festivities this past January, RM Sotheby’s once again camped out at the “Jewel of the Desert” Arizona Biltmore, with cars for sale scattered about outside the hotel’s ballroom. Despite the sale being a single-day sale on January 27 (two-day events are more historical for RM Sotheby’s at the Biltmore; we suspect that the lower number was a hedge against COVID-19 issues), the house still collected $43.3 million, a strong showing. It wasn’t that many years previous that a two-day sale made less money. The auction house was also keen to note that nearly a quarter of its registered bidders were first-timers.
The year looked strong, with 74 of 78 lots sold (a strong 95 percent sell-through) with an average sale price of $555,000 and change; an even dozen broke into the seven-figure range. Among these: an alloy-bodied Mercedes 300 SL coupe sold for $6.8 million; a 1931 Duesenberg Model J Tourster, with coachwork by Derham, brought $3,415,000; a late-production 300 SL roadster went for
