The numbers are in from the Rétromobile Exhibition, a classic auto auction held in Paris at the end of last week. The Baillon Collection—the 60 vehicles found rotting in barns, sheds, and other similarly dilapidated buildings on an estate in Western France—sold for $ 28.5 million, according to Artcurial, the auction house handling the sale.
The collection, dubbed a “barn uncover,” incorporated many uncommon automobiles, and developed an international stir when it was found late final year.
A 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder that was part of the collection sold for $ 18.5 million, which includes the buyer’s premium. Artcurial had provided a pre-sale estimate of $ 12-15 million for the vehicle, but the actual sale value broke a record for that particular model.
’61 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $ 18.5 million
When owned by Alain Delon, a French actor, the Ferrari had been photographed with Delon and the actress Jane Fonda. The weathered vehicle fetched more than a pristine red version of the very same model that sold for $ 15.2 million last summer at Gooding & Co.’s Pebble Beach auction. Before that, the record for a ’61 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder had been held by a gleaming black example that had been owned by James Coburn, of Magnificent 6 fame—it had sold for $ 11 million in 2008.
Aside from the high-dollar ’61 Ferrari, the Baillon collection—once the prize of a French transport magnate named Roger Baillon—featured a lot of rare and sought-soon after vehicles, which includes a 1956 Maserati A6G 2000 that sold for $ 2.2 million, a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Berlinetta that fetched the identical quantity, and a 1949 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport SWB that sold for $ 1.9 million.
’56 Maserati A6G 2000 Gran Sport Berlinetta brought $ 2.2 million
All of the Baillon automobiles sold at the auction, with the leading 6 coming in at $ 1 million or larger.
According to Artcurial, Baillon had begun collecting the cars in the mid-1950s. But 2 decades later, monetary troubles forced him to shed 50 of them. The remaining fleet had been stashed in little pockets about his estate because then.
Baillon died a decade ago and Artcurial stated his son, Jacques Baillon, who had inherited the automobiles, didn’t understand their value. He died final year, and his young children decided to cash in on their grandfather’s decomposing legacy.
Artcurial mentioned that Baillon the elder had wanted to make a museum out of his collection. His dream was by no means realized, but the automobiles did generate an international spectacle. And he didn’t even have to maintain them. The collection pulled in a lot of money for the involved parties, but it also further cemented a recent-ish trend that has observed individuals (and their wallets) going bonkers for dusty barn-uncover automobiles.
French Barn Uncover Cars Fetch Practically $30 Million
