RM scores a bullseye! Black Friday fever hits Milan

Billing an auction as 'the sale of the century' doesn't leave you much room for manoeuvre, but RM hit the bull on day one of the 'everything must go' sale of disgraced businessman Luigi Compiano's confiscated collection.

For motor cars alone, the results – 159 lots we list with premium by make and model – totalled €11,746,000.

Key points:

* €11,746,000 gross
* All but eight cars sold above top estimate, only two failed to meet lower estimate
* Top-selling car the 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 C Sprint Touring (€160k to €180k) hammered at €320k, €358.4k with premium
* RM’s Managing Director, European Division, Peter Wallman, took the rostrum for the first time
* Thanks to blanket exposure, 88% of bidders were new to auctions, many of whom did not know even the most basic working of such events

Friday’s results speak for themselves. The packed saleroom was drawn in by the allure of No Reserve, and paid prices that traders would die for: the DB7 GT selling for €84,000, the €313,600 Porsche 964 Carrera RS and €33,600 paid for a 1970 Porsche 911 S that had neither its correct body nor any chassis plate whatsoever.

As a well-respected Italian Maserati authority commented, it was “Like putting starved lions into the Colosseum in Rome and then throwing in a lamb.”

Simon reckoned it was “Barrett-Jackson in Italian,” and “more of an ‘I bought something’ event than a rational auction.” Had there been reserves, it would have been a different case altogether. I cannot remember the last time I have seen such frenzied bidding. At one point the auctioneer was handling 15 eagerly waved paddles.

The auction was conducted at a good pace, mostly in English, and we saw the debut of RM’s Peter Wallman on the rostrum. Hats off, he did a good job.

While many cars were wrecks, a good proportion were okay: Compiano’s buckshot method of car collecting occasionally bagged a good ’un.

The black 1973 Porsche 911 S 2.4 that sold for €184,800 was the buy of the sale. And we salute one of America’s foremost Alfa Romeo collectors who picked up the 1987 75 Turbo Evoluzione IMSA 'Ufficiale' for €336k. It will share space in a garage with pre-War 6Cs and other Milanese cars from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

It was all highly successful. Of course, it’s one thing being a hero paying four times the estimate for a 10k or 50k estimated car. Let's see what happens with €200k cars, or €2m, tomorrow and Sunday...

We’ll be there to tell you all about it.

For provisional results of RM Sotheby's in Milan, Friday 25 November 2016 with approximate USD conversion, please CLICK HERE.

Photos by K500