Auctions of art and classic cars reach $600 million despite the Iran war

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Art collectors globally shrugged off stock market declines and the war in Iran last week and spent more than $600 million on classic cars and fine art, signaling continued strength at the top of the economy.

Art sales last week in London topped $550 million, up more than 50% from a year ago, according to auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. Some works sold for more than double their estimates and records were set for many artists, with bids pouring in from 40 countries.

Also last week, at the Amelia Island Concours in Florida, Broad Arrow Auctions hosted the most successful auction ever at Amelia, with a total value of $111 million. The sale, which included a $15 million 2003 Ferrari Enzo and a $6.7 million 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, followed a strong auction a week ago by RM Sotheby’s in Modiami that reached $74 million.

The strong results in both art and classic cars, stretching from London to Florida, show continued confidence among affluent consumers even as volatility increases and oil markets rise due to the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Experts say global turmoil may have helped demand for rare collectibles, as the wealthy look for safe, long-term stores of value in an increasingly uncertain world.

“It’s surprising, but it’s not surprising,” said Drew Watson, head of technical services at Bank of America. “It’s surprising with everything that’s going on geopolitically. But when times are uncertain, and I think we’re in a broader era of uncertainty, people turn to what’s tried and true.”

Strong prices continue a rapid recovery in collectibles markets after two years of decline. In 2023 and 2024, total art auctions are down 40% from their peak in 2022, despite rising stock markets and low interest rates. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in April of last year added to the gloom.

But by late summer, the collectibles came back to life. Classic car auctions at Monterey and Pebble Beach in August topped $430 million, the second-highest total ever. The following month, Sotheby’s auction in London of the collection of British socialite Pauline Karpedas brought in $135 million, exceeding its estimate. The strength continued in Paris and major sales in New York in November, followed by large crowds at Art Basel Miami in December.

Today’s wealthy seem to have become accustomed to chaotic headlines and market volatility, said Kenneth Ahn, president of Broad Arrow.

“I don’t know if desensitization is the right word,” Ahn said. “But before that, we had Russia, which had been going on for a while, and the market was volatile. What the market did was effectively dismiss those concerns as noise.”

Ahn said the current era of classic car collectors differs greatly from the past. Previous buyers, mostly baby boomers, were highly sensitive to market fluctuations and economic cycles. He pointed to a sell-off in Monterey in 2019 days after the stock market dropped 400 points and bond yields were pointing to a recession.

“I had a customer walk into the auction room and say, ‘I just lost $30 million in the last two days on my wallet. I’m not sure if I need to bid on this car now,'” he added.

“It looks different,” Ahn said today. Despite market volatility and uncertainty, “there is still this amazing optimism in the auto market,” he said.

The reasons vary. Oliver Parker, Sotheby’s principal auctioneer and chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, attributed the strength of the market to the extremely rare works offered for sale.

“I think it depends on the quality of materials that the market sees right now,” Parker said. “For savvy collectors, this is a great opportunity to acquire rare, high-quality examples on the market.”

Many say a lack of supply, not demand, was the main reason for the weak art market. Following Christie’s’ massive $1.5 billion Paul Allen auction in 2022, which included famous works by Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin, a few more massive collections are set to go under the hammer in 2023 and 2024.

Last fall, the big estates returned. Among the works of art from the Leonard Lauder collection at Sotheby’s auction house is a rare painting by Gustav Klimt that sold for $236 million, making it the second most expensive work ever sold at auction.

The sales in London last week included famous British works from the collection of Joe Louis, the British billionaire and investor. A Self-Portrait by Francis Bacon sold for $21.5 million, double its low estimate. A Leon Kossoff painting titled “Children’s Pool, 11 a.m. Saturday, August” sold for $7 million after a bidding war among 10 bidders.

At Christie’s, a Henry Moore sculpture titled “The King and Queen” sold for $35.2 million – a record for Moore – after six bidders competed in the auction.

Parker and others said there is a “return to quality,” meaning collectors are bidding on the best works by well-known artists rather than buying more speculative works by younger, less well-known artists. The big brand names in the art world – Picasso, Monet, Warhol – were all big price drivers last week.

“It’s an ideal moment where there’s a greater supply of great materials, and there’s also a very hungry buyer class,” Parker said. “Not only are we seeing a depth of bidding that we haven’t seen recently, we’re also seeing a much deeper depth of high-quality material.”

Another factor in the renewed strength of collectibles is the emergence of a new generation of buyers. As baby boomers slow to buy or sell their collections, Generation

As they purchase a wide range of collectibles, from sneakers and handbags to Pokemon cards and sports memorabilia, they have begun making purchases at the art and classic car markets. They add to the buyer pool.

“I think we’re in the middle of a generational transition,” Watson said. “We’ve seen a lot of the collectors who led the post-war and contemporary market over the last couple of decades starting to age out. We have a generational group moving in.”

The transformation is the most dramatic in the classic car market. A market that had been dominated by sports cars in the 1950s and 1960s was quickly eclipsed by supercars from the 1990s and 2000s, favored by a new wave of younger collectors. Although this trend began before the pandemic, it has accelerated in the past three years, Ahn said.

“We have seen an almost parabolic movement in the prices of some modern supercars and luxury cars over the past six months,” Ahn said. “There’s a seismic shift happening. It’s a great wealth transfer: we’re seeing it, we’re feeling it. This is a huge emergence of successful entrepreneurs who left their businesses in their 30s and 40s, or inherited huge amounts of capital, and are passionate about the cars they grew up with.”

Not all collectibles sectors benefit from higher spending. While ultra-contemporary art led most of the post-pandemic recovery, sales at contemporary art dealers remained stagnant in 2025, according to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. Rising costs have also forced some galleries to close, even as buyers flock to auction houses and galleries for older works by well-known artists.

“Overall, this year’s data points to something more important than a return to growth,” said Noah Horowitz, CEO of Art Basel. “It reflects the sector’s adaptation to new economic realities, improving its models and strengthening its long-term foundations.”

However, with stock markets likely to remain volatile, and interest rates likely to decline, the financial backdrop for holdings remains strong. Add to that the fact that America’s richest 1% have nearly doubled in wealth since 2020, to more than $55 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, and experts say the rise in the art and classic car markets is likely to continue.

“We’re optimistic that a lot of this positive sentiment, at least in the art market, will continue,” Watson said.