Osenat at Fontainebleau, 27 May 2020

Slowly, the world is returning to some sense of normality and among the many online-only classic car auctions there are still salerooms conducting live events, albeit streamed by video and accepting bids only by telephone or over the internet.

Osenat’s recent sale at Fontainebleau, some 35 miles south east of Paris, was one, following Silverstone Auctions’ similar event last weekend. On Saturday 30 May Bonhams will hold another at Bicester; both British auctions will be covered by K500 w/b 1 June.

Whatever the limitations of the format, it worked pretty well for the Frenchmen, with 71% sold by number. The catalogue was aimed at the more mature collector, with many older cars and a collection of seven pre-War Packards: esoteric and specialised entries, most of which sold, all below low estimate.

The star of the show, a never-totally-restored 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, with some nice original features and delivered new by Karl Foitek, sold just over low estimate for €725k net. That’s €844.5k with Osenat’s well-nourished buyer’s premium. Put the result down to today’s uncertain circumstances or to the two similar cars to be offered by RM later this year, but it was a good car well bought on the day. Had it been offered by an international house, the result might have been different.  

The 1979 Ferrari 512 BB was another mid-engined Italian exotic sold cheaply (€144k gross, est. €150k to €200k), but in this case the price was probably right, given the need for recommissioning, the inevitable Rosso Corsa with (more interesting) all-black leather and the sheer number of cars built and – more importantly – available today.

Osenat at Fontainebleau, 27 May 2020 – results

Total gross cars: €2,385,420
Number of cars not sold: 13
Number of cars withdrawn: 1
Total number of cars: 45
Number sold: 32
Percentage cars sold by number: 71%
Percentage by value average low/high estimate: 59%
Percentage of cars sold below low estimate: 69%
Percentage of cars sold not met avge of estimates: 94%
Percentage of cars sold met/exceeded top estimate: 3%
Average value of cars sold: €74,544
Average year of cars offered: 1958

Photo by Osenat