C_B_2015_05_

RM SOTHEBY’S

CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015 45

Saleroom

BY DAVE SELBY

If wood could talk, what tales a

brace of Rivas could tell of Riviera

glamour and intrigue and the jet-set

life-style on the Swiss lakes.

Riva Florida hull no.341 is

better known as Nounours, an icon

of the bejewelled lifestyle of

St Tropez in its heyday. It was

bought new in 1959 by film director

Roger Vadim as a gift for actress

Brigitte Bardot but intriguingly by

then the famous couple were

already divorced and the French

screen goddess was about to marry

her second husband. Yet Bardot and

her Riva remained an item through

the early 1960s and the pair were

admired, envied and often

Bardot an

optional

extra...

ARTCURIAL

Wheels as rudders

The 1960s Amphicar was advertised as “the sports car that

sails”. With its 1147cc Triumph Herald engine, the German-

built amphibian could lumber to 65mph on land and wallow

to 7½ knots at sea with rather vague steering input via the

front-wheels acting as rudders.

Nevertheless over 2,500 Amphicars were sold from

1961-67, making it the most successful civilian amphibious

vehicle of all time. This 1964 Amphicar 770, a refreshed

older restoration, seemed a bargain, making €44,100

(£30,500) under the hammer at French auction house

Artcurial’s February classic car sale.

RM SOTHEBY’S

BONHAMS

Take a closer look at more Saleroom lots at classicboat.co.uk/saleroom

This brace of Rivas

including Nonours

(right), formerly

owned by Brigitte

Bardot, are the

highlight of a sale

at RM Sotheby’s

photographed together as the

bikini-clad beauty scythed over the

glittering waters and romped

aboard the pretty play thing she

kept moored at her famous villa, La

Madrague. When she sold the Riva

to a well-known restaurateur it

remained a fixture of the St Tropez

scene for many years. Now fully

restored, hull no.341 is estimated to

fetch €80,000-120,000 (£65,000-

100,000) when she comes under the

hammer in Italy on 23 May.

The RM Sotheby’s classic car

auction on Lake Como also features

a 1976 Aquarama Special, hull

no.652, originally owned by Sheikh

Hamad-al-Thani, Emir of Qatar.

Throughout his ownership the

sheikh kept Shaheen, named after a

species of falcon, on the Swiss lakes.

The series II Aquarama Special with

its twin V8 Riva 350 engines was

restored by RAM Sarnico in 2003-5

and is expected to fetch €350,000-

500,000 (£290,000-420,000).

What makes one first edition of

Arthur Ransome’s Swallows And

Amazons worth £1,187 and another

ten times that amount?

The £11,875 copy of the 1930

children’s classic was not only signed by

the author, but had a charming drawing

in his hand of a sailing boat on the

half-title page (pictured), making it a

unique trophy for Ransome collectors.

The Bonhams book sale in London

on March 18 included 26 Ransome

works, among them a 1904 first edition

of his little-known first book,

ABC of Physical Culture. Sold in a lot

with six other early Ransome books,

it made £4,500.

BONHAMS

First edition

Swallows and

Amazons worth

£11,875

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