Achieving a sale total in excess of £1.2 million, Christie’s 25th March London auction attracted much overseas interest.

Unusually for Christie’s, there was a substantial automobilia section, with the Anthony V. Katter Porsche Collection drawing some top bids. The Katter entries alone took £227,000, with highlights including the 356 Carrera 4 cam engine (£49,350), the Rudge knock-off wheels (£11,162) and £71,960 for the only car in this collection: a superb 1954 Porsche 356 ‘Pre-A’ 1500 with an apparently genuine 12,000 miles on the clock.

Among the remaining 23 cars and one motorcycle in the auction, the top-selling lot on the night was the 1948 Maserati 4CLT Grand Prix Monoposto Racing Car which fetched £278,750. These cars rarely come up for sale but many experts still predicted that the 4CLT would not reach its reserve - and were proved wrong. This Maserati was originally owned by the works-supported Scuderia Milano but its subsequent provenance is less clear. As is often the case with racing machines of that era, it is hard to establish who actually drove the car in competition. Nevertheless, it is a very strong possibility that it was driven by either Fangio or Malusardi, plus Campos on occasion.

Other noteworthy prices included £119,250 for the 1960 Ferrari 250GT Series II Cabriolet - not such a lot of money for a thoroughbred V12 Ferrari of this calibre, particularly when you consider the huge sums which slightly later V12s tend to fetch. And then there was the staggering sum of £212,750 for the final lot of the evening: a lavish 1975 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI Landaulette in spectacular condition, which had been given a maximum estimate of £140,000. A good note to end on!

Please see the Auction Results.

Text: Charis Whitcombe. Photos: Christies