The sale-topping 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Cabriolet finished at $7.7 million.
Darin Schnabel photo © 2016 courtesy RM Sotheby’s.

AMELIA ISLAND, FLA. — One-of-three Bugatti Type 57S Cabriolets claimed top sale of the week at $7.7 million in RM Sotheby’s Concours D’elegance sale on March 10 and 11. The firm reinforced its market leadership over the weekend by generating $70.9 million in sales with 90 percent of all lots sold at its 19th annual event. A new benchmark for an Amelia Island auction, the total exceeded the combined tally of all the other auctions conducted during this year’s Amelia weekend.

Extended to two days with the addition of Friday’s exclusive presentation of ‘A Gentleman’s Collection: The Pride and Passion of Orin Smith,’ RM’s 2017 Amelia Island sale lifted the gavel on a roster of 150 blue-chip vehicles and select automobilia, attracting a global audience with bidders from 25 countries. Significantly, 21 percent of bidders represented first time clients to RM Sotheby’s.

Leading RM’s string of 19 individual million-dollar-plus sales and claiming top honors of the 2017 Amelia Island auctions was a striking 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Cabriolet, one of only three examples sporting rare coachwork by Vanvooren of Paris. Offered for public sale for the first time in its 80-year history, the highly original Type 57S sparkled under the auction lights during Saturday’s sale session.

Just moments prior to the Bugatti’s sale, a well-known 1929 Stutz Model M Supercharged Coupe, one of only three supercharged Stutzes in existence, proved demand remains strong for great American classics at auction, selling for $1,705,000 against a presale estimate of $1/1.2 million. The strong sales price represents a new record for a Stutz at auction.

Watch for a full review of the sale in an upcoming issue.