Thursday, December 12, 2019

Phillips Auction Reflections: Marlon Brando & Jack Nicklaus...



Phillips Auction Reflections


Marlon Brando


Jack Nicklaus

I have to say that when the Phillips 'Game Changers' auction was over, I was exhausted from working so hard on my Rolex History background stories on Marlon Brando and Jack Nicklaus




Also, I watched the live auction feed here on RolexMagazine.com seen in the previous story. The auction was fascinating, and pretty long. Special thanks to Phillips Auction house for giving my readers live access to the history making auction. If you haven't seen the 'Game Changers' auction you can watch a complete replay of it in my previous story.


Phillips auctioned Marlon Brando's 'Apocalypse Now' GMT-Master for $1,952.000 which is a world auction record for a GMT-Master at auction. 


Marlon Brando GMT-Master Auction photo appears courtesy of Arthur Touchot

Phillips also auction Jack Nicklaus' legendary Day-Date for $1,220.000, which also set a world-record for auction price for the Day-Date. 


Jack Nicklaus Auction photo appears courtesy of Arthur Touchot


These prices included the typical buyers premium auction houses typically charge, but in the case of both these watches, as with the Phillips auction of Paul Newman's iconic Daytona, Phillips donated 100% of their auction proceeds to the charities that the watch proceeds went to.

In the case of Paul Newman's Daytona, the vast majority of the $17.8 Million went to the Nell Newman Foundation, and in the case of Jack Nicklaus auction, 100% of the proceeds went to The Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, and with Marlon Brando's GMT, a significant portion of the proceeds went to the Brando Fischer Foundation, which was set up by Marlon Brando's daughter to continue her father's legacy of helping disadvantaged children.

In my personal opinion, I find it to be heartwarming that all these funds are going to great causes :-) Also, in my usual fashion, I dove unusually deep into exploring the life and times of Marlon Brando. Whenever I complete these super-detailed stories, it feels like I get so close to the history, that I lived through many of the moments and experiences myself. In other words, I have argued for years that when you immerse yourself this deeply in the history, it not only feels like you lived through it, but you became part of it. Marlon Brando's life was full of the highest highs and lowest lows, but after all is said and done, he left behind an incredible legacy!

Edmond from Le Monde Edmond wrote a superb article regarding the results of the article which I highly recommend named Auction Review: How Coolness Beat History

Also, Barron's published an excellent article regarding the Phillips Auction. In the Barrons article which I highly recommend reading, Paul Boutros made a fascinating point regarding the relationship between the fame of the Rolex watch wearer and the market value of the actual Rolex model:

While the Brando didn’t reach the eight-figure level of the Paul Newman Rolex, Boutros underscores how outstanding the result is, considering the sales price compared to the market value of a similar model without the celebrity provenance. 

“We like to see multiples in the results when there’s great provenance behind the watches,” Boutros says. “If you look at the multiple achieved compared to the market price for this Ref. 1675 without a bezel or bracelet, the retail price would be about $15,000. With a result of $1,952,000, the multiple is 130 times.”


He adds that the Brando multiple figure is even higher than the Paul Newman Daytona. At the time it sold, the market price for a non-celebrity Paul Newman Daytona was about $150,000. So, when it sold for $17.8 million, the multiple was about 118 times. “That’s how we view success,” he adds. “It shows the power of Marlon Brando and the power of the Rolex brand when tied to a famous celebrity like this.”