Christies Acquires (i.e., Buys) Gooding & Co.

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

Auction giant Christie’s just bought classic car auction specialist Gooding & Co. for an undisclosed sum. It must have been a heck of an undisclosed sum because Gooding really rakes in the money on its auctions.

The recent Pebble Beach auctions, for instance, brought in $109 million with an 82% sell-through rate, including $14 million for an Alfa 8C and $5 million for a Ferrari 333 SP Evoluzione. Gooding & Co. auctioned a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider at Amelia Island last year for $18,045,000.

Christie’s hadn’t had an automobile (you can’t say “car” when talking about Christie’s) auction component since 2007 when it pulled out of that business segment after it was forced to halt the sale of a 1939 Auto Union Type D V12, which it believed won the 1939 French Grand Prix but then discovered it had, in fact, finished sixth. It was a bit of a scandal, but Christie’s addressed the situation properly.

Cars (automobiles) are all Gooding & Co. does, and its folks are experts at it. So the deal makes sense.

“When we founded Gooding & Company 21 years ago, we built it on the pillars of integrity, quality, and passion within the collector car market,” said David Gooding. “I am proud of our tremendous growth within this industry, and I am confident that our acquisition by Christie’s is the next step in our continued development as a global market leader in this space. I look forward to working with Guillaume and the Christie’s team to achieve the next evolution of the Gooding & Company brand.”

“Guillaume” would be Guillaume Cerutti, CEO of Christie’s, who was also happy with the deal.

“Christie’s has long admired Gooding & Company and their way of doing business,” he said. “The legacy that David Gooding and his team have built over the past two decades is well admired by collectors internationally and we could not be more honored to welcome them into the Christie’s family. We are confident that the combination of resources will provide many opportunities for significant global growth.”

Exactly what to expect next was not spelled out in the announcement, but it’s a fair assumption that there will be more than the current Gooding auctions at Amelia, Pebble, and London. (You might even assume they’ll be hiring more personnel, so consider dusting off the resume.)

Christie’s was founded in 1766, and describes itself as “a world-leading art and luxury business with a physical presence in 46 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, and flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris, and Geneva.”

Gooding, meanwhile, is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in 2003 by David Gooding and his wife Dawn Ahrens. David Gooding basically grew up in the fabulous Harrah’s Collection in Reno, Nevada, where his father worked. That was before the sprawling 1000-plus collection was broken up.

From there he went to, ironically, Christie’s, where he worked for 11 years and oversaw the auction at Pebble Beach. Then he was president of RM auctions for three years before founding his own company 21 years ago. Gooding & Co. is generally considered one of the highest of the high-brow automotive auction houses.

Christie’s is pretty high-brow, too, in the world of art and real estate. Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $500 to over $100 million, the company says.

So when it comes time to part with the Duesenberg, or the Bugatti, or both, you know who—excuse me—whom to call.