RM Sotheby's, formerly RM Auctions, is a

classic car A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary.While other languages, such as German and Dutch, may refer to classic cars as "oldtimers", this usage is unknown in English, where "old-timer" refers to an elder ...

auction company headquartered in Blenheim,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. With offices across the United States and several European countries, the company's services include

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

, private treaty sales,

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

s (online and local), and financial services. It has been partly owned by

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

, a global company dealing in

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

, since 2015.

History

Company

RM Auctions was established in 1991 by Rob Myers.

Kruse International Kruse International was an auction firm founded by Russell Kruse in Auburn, Indiana, in 1952. The company began as a local auction company selling real estate, farms and personal property run by Kruse and his sons Dean, Dennis and Daniel. The comp ...

sold the Auburn Auction Park to RM Auctions on July 1, 2010.Jewett,Dal
"RM Auctions buys Auburn complex from Kruse"
"

AutoWeek ''Autoweek'' is a car culture publication based in Detroit, Michigan. It was first published in 1958 and in 1977 the publication was purchased by Crain Communications Inc, its current parent company. The magazine was published weekly and focused ...

", Detroit, 1 July 2010. Retrieved on 24 February 2012. RM Auctions acquired Auctions America in 2010, only a few months after the latter's founding. The subsidiary was run independently and under the Auctions America name until 2017, when it was more formally absorbed under the RM Auctions (by now, RM Sotheby's - see below) banner. RM Auctions acquired Bator Vintage Motorcycle Auctions in 2011 via its Auctions America subsidiary to move further into the motorcycle auction business. On February 18, 2015 RM Auctions announced the formation of a new strategic partnership with

, with Sotheby's acquiring a 25 percent ownership interest in RM. The auction house was renamed RM Sotheby's.

Sales

RM averaged $303,000 per sale in 2007. In 2009 the company held five of the top 10 and four of the top 5 all time records for the most expensive motor cars sold at auction, with the number one car being the 1957

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

250

Testa Rossa The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, or 250 TR, is a racing sports car built by Ferrari from 1957 to 1961. It was introduced at the end of the 1957 racing season in response to rule changes that enforced a maximum engine displacement of 3 litres for ...

sold in May 2009 for $12,402,500 in Maranello,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. As of December 2015, RM had sold 28 million-dollar-plus cars On August 25, 2018, a

Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a GT car produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the FIA's Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's ''Tipo 168/62'' Colombo V12 engine. The "250" in its name denotes the disp ...

was sold at their

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

auction for 48.4 million dollars, making it the most expensive car sold at auction. In 2022, RM Sotheby’a shattered the world record for the world’s most expensive car ever by selling a A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé for over $140,000,000 USD.

Description

RM Sotheby's headquarters are in Blenheim, Ontario. RM Sotheby's has offices in Ontario, Canada, Richmond, United Kingdom, California, United States, Indiana, United States, Florida, United States, and Michigan, United States. It also has remote offices in France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Canadian auction houses Retail companies established in 1991 Conservation and restoration of vehicles