Both Auctions America and Midamerica auctions appeared to be very successful based upon the number of people attending and the successful sell through percentage of machines at each venue.
Note: We didn’t attend the Bonham’s auction which was one day only (Thursday) since there were no motorcycles offered that we were interested in. The 2012 Bonham Las Vegas results have been posted at the following link: http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/19679/
In general, the sales prices seemed as high at Midamerica as last year. Our take was that prices at Midamerica were higher than those achieved at Auctions America.
Attendance
Midamerica seemed to have just as many attendees as in the past and with their sales prices remaining relatively high, the general consensus was that the new AA auction at the Rio didn’t seem to have a significant negative impact on them in any way.
Auctions America attendance was light at first, especially on Friday morning when we counted only about 125 people in attendance. Fortunately for AA, once word got out that there were some real bargains on Thursday night, we saw many of the Midamerica “regulars” show up to check it all out. By Saturday afternoon, there was a full complement of bidders on hand at the Rio.
We had a difficult time coordinating our attendance at each auction because of the 10 miles separating them. In the end, we spent about 70% of our time at Auctions America and about 30% at Midamerica with 4 or 5 roundtrips between the venues.
How did the two auctions compare to each other?
Midamerica retained tight control on entry to the South Point event as in years past. Even if you were a registered bidder, you needed to purchase a $15 or $20 wrist band to get you into the Midamerica auction.
There was no such restriction at AA where anyone interested in attending could simply walk through the door.
Our opinion was that there was higher quality British bikes at Midamerica than at AA and the auction prices certainly reflected that. One of our friends who is well versed in Harley Davidsons thought the offering at AA was better than at Midamerica.
We were told that Midamerica had a full auction consignment with a waiting list and the event floor seemed to have as many machines as we’ve ever seen. AA also had a full complement of about 500 machines for sale but with the much larger venue at the Rio, it didn’t seem as cramped as Midamerica.
Midamerica had the same “for hire” auctioneers and floor staff as in the past. In contrast, Auctions America by RM brought their professional crew to Las Vegas. We’ve seen this well oiled staff at RM’s car auctions and if you have ever watched the television show “What’s My Car Worth” you’ve seen this crew in action.
Auctions America served a terrific sit down filet mignon dinner on Thursday night. As in years past, we understand Midamerica offered an unexciting buffet once again. Throughout the auction, AA offered complimentary breakfast and food on the observation deck behind the bidding floor. Midamerica trusted that their attendees would be satisfied with the South Point operated hot dog booth adjacent to the auction floor.
AA had a bar set up in close proximity to the action. While the drink prices were a bit steep, free drink cards were handed out to many of the bidders and consignors.
Observations and information on Midamerica
We saw the Midamerica crew stumble several times during the auction and they made a major gaff on the sale of Leroy Turner’s 1968 Triumph TR6C.
On Friday morning, another 1968 TR6C was put across the block at Midamerica. It was very nice machine restored by Bill Hoard and it achieved a high bid of $13,500, just short of its reserve of $14,000. It went into the “corral” with an asking price of $14,000.
Leroy’s TR6C, which was as good a restoration as Bill Hoard’s, came up later that afternoon but had a much lower reserve. The expectation was that the bike would nevertheless sell for a price close to what was bid for the Hoard bike.
What happened during the bidding on Leroy’s TR6C still isn’t clear, but there seemed to have been a major miscommunication amongst the Midamerica staff that resulted in the reserve being pulled early followe by an immediate hammer down. The bike sold at a very low price of $9750, close to $4000 less than was bid on the Hoard bike.
Leroy was very disappointed to say the least and while Midamerica tried to make amends by giving Leroy credit for his reserve price, it was clear that he left the auction with far less in his pocket than he should have due to the Midamerica gaff.
The lesson to be learned from Leroy’s experience is protect yourself with a higher reserve that can always be pulled during the bidding if necessary.
Midamerica used to take up to two weeks to get the results posted online from the Las Vegas auction, but a little competition from AA must have changed that. The results were posted in only a few days this time and are available at the following link: http://www.midamericaauctions.com/auction-items/?tyf=motorcycle&orderdropdown=PriceDescending&aid=854&type=motorcycle&myear=&make=&lotnumber=&submit=Filter
Results of interest at Midamerica:
1. The highest bid and actual sale was on a 1915 Ivor Johnson Twin … $280,000.
2. The highest bid on a Triumph was for Steve McQueen’s 1938 Speed Twin … $84,000
3. The highest actual Triumph sale was a 1973 X-75 Hurricane … $30,000.
Observations and information on Auction America
The 2012 Las Vegas Auctions America by RM auction was an amazingly well organized event given the short timeline from its initial announcement in October.
There were a larger number of no reserve offerings than anyone expected. The Friday auctioneer at AA even announced that over 65% of the machines going across the block that day would be at no reserve.
We estimate that about 100 bikes remained unsold by the end of the auction, which is higher the number of unsold machines that we saw at Midamerica.
There were many “core bikes” offered at AA. These bikes are well sought after by restorers and have rarely been seen at Midamerica auctions in the past. We hope this continues at AA in the future.
The Auctions America auction results were posted online within an incredible 48 hours after the auction ended! Caution … the prices include the 12% Buyer’s Premium so to see the actual sale price, divide by 1.12.
2012 results can be found at the following link: http://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/all-lots.cfm?SaleCode=LV12
Auctions America announced that their next two Las Vegas auctions would be at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino which is right on the Strip!
Results of interest at AA:
1. The highest bid was on a 1894 Roper … $425,000. This is one of the earliest motorcycles ever made. Reportedly there is only one other and it is in the Smithsonian.
2. The highest actual sale was a 1964 Ducati 250 F3 Corsa … $72500.
3. The highest Triumph sale was a 1969 Triumph T150 Trident … $10,400.
Our 2012 sales and buying experience in Las Vegas
We sold one motorcycle, had one “no sale” and bought two others.
1. Our Honda CB400F sold on Thursday night at the Auctions America dinner. Thursday nights are typically when the lowest auction prices are achieved and this proved to be the case again this year. Even the AA “color commentator” stated to the crowd that he thought most bikes were selling at 30% or more below what he expected them to go for on that night.
When the high bid on our CB400F achieved $3800 (within a couple of hundred dollars of our reserve), we let it go and sold the bike. It turned out that was a very good move as our selling price was more than twice that of the next nicest CB400F (a yellow 1977) that sold for $1500 late on Saturday afternoon.
In the end, we sold our bike for about $1500 less than we had invested in it but we are still happy the bike has moved on to another owner.
2. Our 1966 Triumph T120R Bonneville had a high bid of $9500 at Auctions America on Friday. When it didn’t hit reserve, it went into the “Still For Sale” area. There we had one offer that we didn’t accept. We think our ’66 would have easily hit our reserve price of $11,000 if it had been at the Midamerica auction. We brought it back to Apache Junction on Sunday.
3. We purchased a 1912 Triumph for $8000 … a very low price for such an old motorcycle in such good condition.
This 1912 was a machine that we bid on at Midamerica in 2006 but lost out to another collector who paid $13,000 back then. This time, the machine was offered at no reserve on Thursday night. We are really excited to put this one in our collection and as soon as it is cleaned and photographed, we will post a blog featuring it on this site.
Note: we sent pictures of the 1912 to our friend Peter Cornelius in New Zealand, who is the Triumph vintage expert for the Vintage Motorcycle Club in England. Peter’s early assessment of the bike is that it is a very original survivor and was a terrific buy. He is providing us with complete details about this bike that we will be sharing on this site.
4. We bought a very rare 1966 Triumph T100SC for Leroy Turner, paying only $1500. This "core" motorcycle was one of the very last machines to come to the stage on Saturday while Leroy was still at Midamerica. Since Leroy had expressed high interest in this machine at the beginning of the auction, we took the chance to bid on it for him. Later that evening, when he learned we had won the bike for him at such a low price, he was delighted. The bike is now in El Paso where Leroy plans to perform a full restoration and keep the bike for himself.
Las Vegas turned out to be a much more exciting and exhausting experience than we’ve had previously, but very worthwhile nonetheless.
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