Live-ish From The RM Amelia Island Auction – Edward II Has A New Home
“Edward II” the big 1930 30′ Hacker-Craft Triple Cockpit runabout is now being offered for auction. This is exciting to watch in person….
Bidding quickly reaches 160K…
Looks like there are three bidders in the house… Now at 215K
Hammer drops at 220,000.00. ($242,000 inclusive of buyer’s premium)
Edward II Photo courtesy Wayne Davis / RM Auctions
Texx
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Nice work by Dave Bortner and his crew from Freedom Boat Service and great job by the nice folks from RM Auctions this week.
Freedom Boat Service & RM Auctions have found a winning formula and together continue to find buyers for these rare classic wooden boats. Nice to see.
Texx
very nice to see, great exposure of quality collector boats to a very, very interested and serious crowd. Efforts like this will hopefully broaden the appeal of these boats to collectors, not just boaters. Obviously people who buy many of the cars sold here will never drive them, they invest in them. Having collectors become interested in the “best of breed” in our hobby cannot be a bad thing.
What was the audience like during and after hammer?
I would have placed a bid, but it would have been subject to my lottery ticket drawing tonight.
I m pleased it sold, too. A little lower than the advertised low end of the range, as i suspected, but not by too much. With the stock market coming back and the economy inching forward I think we will see more firming in the price of the higher end boats. There has been dramatic inflation in the components going into restoration, such as lumber (if available at all), chroming, screws, etc. so already restored boats become more attractive. Texx, do we know who bought it? I hope it gets out and about for people to see.
It was great to see Edward II sell for a reasonable price today. I am not sure who bought the Hacker, but will inquire.
Many people stayed around late into the auction just to see how Edward II would do in terms of actual bid amounts and also to see if the boat made reserve.
A super job of reporting on the event, texx. Any plans for pebble beach in aug?
Right now Pebble Beach seems a long way in the distance. But just a few weeks ago Brian Robinson & I did discuss the possibility of hitting Pebble Beach after the Lake Tahoe Concours.
We have a very busy schedule this year with boating events and shows, and a few other events that we are currently trying to get off the ground.
Please Texx….I would rather remain anonymous.
You got it!
This selling price is quite a bit lower then a couple of 30′ Hackers sold for 3 or 4 years ago, and also far far less then what Mr. McClendon paid when he acquired Edward II. As I recall Mahogany Bay handled the sale when Mr. Bortner was president there. 3 replicas/new builds in the 30′ range by top notch wooden boat builders have sold in the area of $300,000 in the last year or so. Is a sign of the times, are there currently more buyers for new wooden boats?
This would make an interesting article. What is the annual sales volume of the reproduction wood boats these days, and over the last 5-6 years, say. I suspect they have been down during the recession but this is only impressionistic.