Classic_Boat_2016-04

ARTCURIAL

CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2016 29

BY DAVE SELBY

Great classic cars and great classic yachts have

more and less in common than you might think.

At a Paris auction where a Ferrari sold for

£24.7 million, the second highest price paid for a car at

auction, the equally iconic 1903 Fife yacht Moonbeam III

seemed a snip at £852,000. Indeed, not only was that considerably lower than the

upper pre-sale estimate of £1.1 million, it was less than half the original asking price

when she was recently on brokerage.

You could argue that the new owner, who will maintain and campaign the

magnificent 100ft gaff cutter from her Saint-Tropez base, got something of a bargain,

considering to build a new Moonbeam III would cost in excess of £10m.

It’s also a fact of life that with such grand yachts, the annual ownership costs far

outstrip the cost of acquisition. Compare that with the £24.7 million 1957 Ferrari

335S, whose annual ownership costs are a fraction of Moonbeam’s purchase price.

Moreover, you could re-create a 335S from scratch for less than £1m.

To provide further contrast, Moonbeam III is unique, while the Ferrari is one of

four built, so common by comparison. And as for “investment potential”? With

yachts there is none. Moonbeam was bought in a distressed state in the 1970s for

£5,000, which is about the sum that you would then have paid for a Ferrari that’s

now worth £24.7m! In short, as CB readers know well, classic yachts are all about

passion, pure and simple. However there is one thing that both provide: carte-

blanche entry to the most glittering events in the world.

And Moonbeam does that at one-25th of the price.

Moonbeam III sells for

£850k, a Ferrari for £24m

EWBANK’S

Models move on

Award-winning model-maker Brian King, who

sold only one model in his lifetime, and

regretted it at the time, is releasing 18 of his

creations for auction, at the age of 90. They

go under the hammer on March 17, at

Ewbank’s in Surrey.

The only sailing vessel is HMS Speedy, an

1828 six-gun revenue cutter. A Model

Engineering Exhibition gold medal-winner,

she is estimated at £400-600. Among the

impressive naval models is HMS Belfast, which

carries the top estimate of £1,0500-2,500.

You couldn’t commission comparable

models for these sums. For more details

see ewbankauctions.co.uk

ARTCURIAL/DAVE SELBY

KOOPMAN

EWBANK’S

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

It’s no less than we should expect of a trophy

commissioned by the American sportsman

and newspaper owner whose exploits were

such that his name became an expression of

astonishment. This 25cm-high Tiffany silver

trophy was commissioned by Gordon Bennett

in 1895, to present to Ailsa for beating the

Prince of Wales’s Britannia in a two-yacht

race off Nice. Costing $2,500, it was

described as “the most beautiful yachting

prize, as well as the most costly ever offered”.

Today, London silver dealer Koopman is

asking £450,000 for it. Gordon Bennett!

KOOPMAN

Gordon Bennett!

That’s some prize

Saleroom