A baby blue 2005 Porsche Carrera GT went for $6.7 million at the most successful auction ever at Amelia.
The strong results in both art and classic cars, stretching from London to Florida, show continued confidence among wealthy consumers even as volatility picks up and oil markets surged on the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Experts say the global turmoil may have even helped demand for rare collectibles, as the wealthy search for safe, long-term stores of value in an increasingly uncertain world.
"It's surprising, yet not surprising," said Drew Watson, head of art services at Bank of America. "It's surprising with all that's going on geopolitically. But when times are uncertain, and I think we're in a broader era of uncertainty, people go with the tried and true."
The strong prices continue a rapid rebound in collectibles markets following two years of declines. In 2023 and 2024, art auction totals fell by 40% from their 2022 peak, despite soaring stock markets and falling interest rates. President Donald Trump's tariff announcement in April last year only added to the gloom.
By late summer, however, collectibles sprang back to life. The classic car auctions at Monterey and Pebble Beach in August topped $430 million, marking the second-highest total ever. The next month, a Sotheby's sale in London of the collection of British socialite Pauline Karpidas fetched $135 million, soaring past its estimate. The strength continued in Paris and the big New York sales in November followed by big crowds at Art Basel Miami in December.
Kenneth Ahn, president of Broad Arrow, said the wealthy today seem to have become inured to the chaotic headlines and market gyrations.
"I don't know if desensitization is the right word," Ahn said. "But leading up to this, we've had Russia, which has been going on for a while, and the market has been fluctuating. What the market has done is effectively shut out those concerns as noise."
Ahn said the current era of classic car collectors differ dramatically from those of the past. Previous buyers, mainly baby boomers, were highly sensitive to market swings and economic cycles. He recalled a sale in Monterey in 2019 days after the stock market fell 400 points and bond yields were signaling recession.
"I had a client walk into the auction room and say 'I just lost 30 million bucks over the last two days of my portfolio. I'm not sure if I need to bid on this car right now,'" he added.
Ahn said today "feels different." Despite the market volatility and uncertainty, "there's still this incredible optimism in the car market," he said.
The reasons vary. Oliver Barker, Sotheby's lead auctioneer and chairman of Sotheby's Europe, attributed the market's strength to the ultra-rare works being offered for sale.
"I think it's a function of the quality of the material that the market is seeing at the moment," Barker said. "For savvy collectors, this is such an incredible opportunity to acquire rare-to-market and highly qualitative examples."
A lack of supply, not demand, has been the main source of weakness in the art market, many say. After Christie's blockbuster $1.5 billion Paul Allen sale in 2022, which included famed works by Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin, few mega-collections came up for sale in 2023 and 2024.
Last fall, big estates returned. The sale of works from the collection of Leonard Lauder at Sotheby's included a rare Gustav Klimt that sold for $236 million, making it the second-most expensive work ever sold at auction.
The sales in London last week included celebrated British works from the collection of Joe Lewis, the U.K. billionaire and investor. A self-portrait by Francis Bacon went for $21.5 million, doubling its low estimate. A painting by Leon Kossoff, called "Children's Swimming Pool, 11 o'clock Saturday Morning, August" sold for $7 million after a bidding war between 10 bidders.
And at Christie's, a sculpture by Henry Moore, titled "King and Queen" sold for $35.2 million -- a record for Moore -- after six bidders competed in the auction.