1910 Mercedes sells for $887,000 at Owls Head vintage car auction

OWLS HEAD – Winning bidders at an auction of vintage vehicles and memorabilia in Maine have bought a 1910 Mercedes four-seat Tourabout for $887,000 and a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost for $832,000.

The auction on Friday and Saturday drew an estimated 500 people to the Owls Head Transportation Museum, plus telephone bidders from around the world. The event was conducted by London-based Bonhams International Auctioneers.

The auction disposed of part of the collection of car fancier Richard Paine Jr. of Seal Cove who died last year.

The 1910 Mercedes and the 1913 Rolls-Royce were the top-priced items, and a half-dozen other cars sold for more than $250,000 each. A 1910 Peerless Victoria sold for $469,000, a 1913 Pierce-Arrow touring car sold for $315,000, and a 1923 Rolls-Royce sold for the same amount.

In all, the more than 60 vehicles and hundreds of auto memorabilia sold for more than $8.4 million.

Among the memorabilia, a Maine license plate with the number “1” sold for $3,510.

Proceeds of the auction go to an endowment for the Seal Cove Auto Museum, which houses the core of Paine’s collection.