2019 Bonhams Amelia Island (Brass Era Announcement)

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Bonhams announced two dozen pioneer, veteran and Brass Era automobiles from the Don C. Boulton Collection for the Amelia Island 2019 sale.

© Bonhams

Bonhams announced the sale of the Don C. Boulton Collection of two dozen Pioneer, Veteran and Brass Era automobiles and automobilia at the Amelia Island Auction on March 7th, 2019. The marques represented in the Boulton Collection include: Austin, Columbus, Haynes, Knox, Locomobile, Matheson, Mercer, Oldsmobile, Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Pope, Rambler, Simplex, Tincher and Welch. Seven of these cars could be eligible for the annual London-to-Brighton Emancipation Run.

Bonhams Amelia Island 2019 Classic Car Sale

Bonhams scheduled its fifth Amelia Island sale for March 7, 2019, at the Fernandina Beach Golf Club in Florida, USA.

Bonhams is the smaller of the big three catalogue auction houses at Amelia Island and had mixed results in recent years. In 2019, Bonhams earned $16 million with a respectable sell-through rate of 84%. Highlights of this sale were two dozen American antique Brass Era cars from the Don Boulton Collection.

In 2018, Bonhams earned $13.4 million and in 2017 the gains were around $10.2 million. Bonhams’ best Amelia Island auction was in 2016 when it earned $27.5 million in sale that included a $9,735,000 result for a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 SC Sports Tourer while a 1937 Mercedes Benz 540 K Cabriolet A sold for $2,970,000.

Veteran Car Collection at Bonhams Amelia Island 2019

Numbering 24 antique automobiles, two antique motorcycles and automobilia, the Boulton Collection to be offered in Amelia Island consists of some very rare and highly sought-after models, beginning from 1899 up to 1914. Highlights include the incredibly rare 1908 Welch Model 4 Seven-Seat Tourer formerly owned by Bill Harrah and featured on the front cover of Ralph Stein’s innovative book The Treasury of the Automobile, a luxurious 1904 Peerless Type 8 Four-Cylinder 24hp Rear Entrance Tonneau, a sporty 1913 Mercer Model 35 J Runabout, and a renowned 1914 Simplex Speedcar, to name but a few.

As with most cars of this age, those in the Boulton Collection have wonderful stories to tell. One, for example, is the 1910 Pope Hartford Model T Limousine that was originally owned by Uruguay’s ambassador to the Vatican and in which Pope Pius X was reported to have ridden.

The marques represented in the Boulton Collection headed to Amelia Island include: Austin, Columbus, Haynes, Knox, Locomobile, Matheson, Mercer, Oldsmobile, Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Pope, Rambler, Simplex, Tincher and Welch.

Also of great importance is the fact that no less than seven Boulton cars could be eligible for the annual London-to-Brighton Emancipation Run, the world’s longest continuously held automobile run, and an event for which entries are limited to cars of 1904 and earlier.

Don Boulton of Oklahoma City

The late Don Boulton of Oklahoma City was renowned for his passion and infectious enthusiasm for pre-Great War motorcars. As a former National President and lifelong member of the Horseless Carriage Club of America, Boulton was one of the hobby’s greatest ambassadors and hosted regular weekend “cars and coffee” gatherings at his warehouse collection in Oklahoma.

Says Malcolm Barber, Bonhams Co-Chairman and active Brass Era enthusiast, “Don Boulton’s name is synonymous with these great cars. His undying support and energetic advocacy inspired many of us around the world. He collected from an early age, beginning in the 1950s, and with a critical eye for rarity and powerful cars.”

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