The Florida Highwaymen Auction started with its typical mix of some very strong, headlining paintings along with a good selection of more common paintings.  Overall view… a strong auction, but slow moving and with some technical glitches.   Nonetheless, Florida Highwaymen Auctions are auctioning some of the best paintings being auctioned in the Highwaymen market today.

This was followed by the Manor Auctions sale, which was larger than its auctions of the last several months, but was still defined by its general selection of “average” paintings.

The Movie:

Both of these auctions did well, given the time of year.  The real launchpad for the month was the opening of the new Highwaymen movie “Legends of the Highway”.  It is now streaming on Amazon for the very reasonable charge of $2.99.  It will be streaming for free starting around November 25.  There has been great anticipation in the market about this movie, and its impact on the Highwaymen market.  Post opening, everyone has their views, and they are somewhat mixed with many collectors/viewers saying they believe the movie will expand the Highwaymen market.  There are also a selection of collectors who think that the movie was entertaining, but will not do much to expand the market, as it wasn’t “exciting” enough.

The purpose of this blog is not to do movie reviews !  In the end, the movie has been completed and is now available online.  It’s a huge accomplishment, thanks to Doug Schwab and Maverick Entertainment Group.  There have been so many Highwaymen film projects that have not been completed, but this one got done.  Every collector has been waiting for this, and In the end, it can only help the market and spread awareness of the Highwaymen.  Well done !

Back to the market …  Things are heating up.  October was clearly a turn-around month.

I use Manor Auctions data as a barometer as they are the only auction house with monthly auctions, and can provide a clear trendline.

Manor Auctions:

January 2025 ….. 77 Lots ………  $233,200 Total Hammer

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August ………….. 32 Lots ………   $  86,300 Total Hammer

September ………48 Lots ……….  $145,100 Total Hammer

October ………….56 Lots ……….  $154,950 Total Hammer

November …..…  67 Lots ……….  $150,050 TARGET Prices

Manor typically exceeds their overall target by approximately 15% – so I would expect this auction to produce Total Hammer proceeds of about $173,000.

After steady declines in the numbers at Manor in 2025 (both the number of lots offered and hammer results) , it is clear that the trend is moving back in the right direction.  But it is still a third below the level of activity from the beginning of the year.

Highwaymen Prices:

At the same time, what has happened to Highwaymen prices in 2025?   Historically, the Highwaymen market (all 26 artists) generally moved in the same direction – all 26 artists were always up !  There were years that growth may have been higher than others, but the trend this year has been clear.  The market has changed.  While some artists are increasing in value, some are decreasing !  In fact, more artists are decreasing than increasing.

The overall Highwaymen market (as assessed by The Highwaymen Collector HiCo index which can be found on our website) shows that this trend is quite apparent.

Among the 26 Highwaymen artists, when comparing their average prices for 2024, with year-to-date prices through the end of September, we find that:

…….. 15 artists have declined in value

……..   3 artists have remained virtually unchanged

……..   8 artists have increased in price.

Results are based on a large data pool, so averages are good numbers.  However, I recognize that there may always be some anomalies that exist in the data.  For example, Alfonso Moran had a decline in value, but the number of data points is so small that results can vary widely based upon the quality of the 1 or 2 paintings sold. An average price from year to year is not statistically significant.  Another example is RL Lewis, who seems to be having a large number of small paintings coming into the market (5×7’s).  Although there is a large quantity of data, a shift to small paintings being sold would pull down the averages for his work.

What are the results ?  It may surprise many collectors.

The top 3 artists increasing in value:

1. Rodney Demps …  increased on average 44%
2. Robert Butler …  increased 25%
3. Willie Reagan …  increased 22%

The bottom 3 artists decreasing in value:

1. RL Lewis …  decreased on average 30%
2. Sylvestor Wells …  decreased 27%
3. John Maynor …  decreased 25%

Interestingly, one artist right in the middle with zero change was Harold Newton.  I have been reporting that I have been seeing a decline in HNewton prices, but the data indicates the prices have stayed flat.  However, what the data does not show are the number of paintings by a given artist that “pass” at auction.  Harold Newton holds this record.  Harold had the largest number of paintings that did not reach 80% of the target price, did not sell, and are not included in the price database, since they were technically unsold paintings.  Harold Newton paintings that sell may be holding steady in price, but that ignores the fact that many Harold Newton paintings are not selling.

By January 15, following a full update of the 2025 database, I plan to report the full list of all 26 Highwaymen artists, and their average price changes from 2024, along with footnotes as described here.

The November Market:

Traditionally, November is the biggest auction month of the year.  The calendar is as follows:

1. November 15, Vero Beach Auction
   Live Auctioneers at noon
   20 paintings
2. November 15, Manor Auctions
   In person and Live Auctioneers at 1pm
   67 paintings
3. November 23, Rennick Auctions
   In person only, starting at 12:30pm
   Estimate 100 Highwaymen paintings
4. November 29, Florida Highwaymen Auctions
   In person and Live Auctioneers at 1pm
   Estimate 50 paintings

My comments on the auctions:

1. It is unfortunate that Manor scheduled their auction on the same day of the Vero Beach Auction, even though Vero Beach had much earlier announced this date. It is also unfortunate that Manor has scheduled a movie screening, party, and exhibition at the Elliot museum on the day of the Rennick auction, when the Rennick date had been announced months ago.   This is a fairly common practice of Manor, which most people believe to be intentional.  It is in my opinion a disservice to the Highwaymen collecting community.  It is interesting to note that Sothebys and Christies in New York, despite very full auction calendars, NEVER schedule competing auctions on the same days.
2. I believe the best auction of the month will be the Rennick auction. Rennick does not do monthly auctions filled with average quality paintings.  They organize only 3 auctions per year, with 8 months since their last auction this past March.  Thus, they have significant time to attract and put together an exceptionally high quality offering of paintings.  It will be the biggest auction, and the best of the month.  You can see the list of paintings only on their own website:  com  They always have an unusually large offering of top quality Harold Newton paintings, along with many surprises which sometimes come in on literally, the day of the auction.
3. The Florida Highwaymen Auction on November 29 is shaping up to be the typical auction organized by FHA…. An auction with selected superstar paintings, in conjunction with very reasonably priced offerings. Check out both the Harold Newton and Alfred Hair paintings being offered this month.  Exceptional.
4. Vero Beach Auction this month seems to be a smaller than usual auction, but quality is always good. This may be the sleeper auction of the month because of the limited number of paintings, and the conflict with the larger Manor Auction.  This could lead to some very attractive prices at Vero – so check it out and leave some write-in bids if you do not make the auction live online.

Finally – although we have not reached Thanksgiving yet, please mark your calendars for our First Annual Highwaymen Christmas Market event on December 6 at This Is It Café and Highwaymen Gallery, in West Palm Beach.  This will be our first evening event (5-9pm) with 100 Highwaymen paintings, 12 Florida artists selling their paintings outdoors under twinkling lights, mulled wine, grilled bratwurst, and Christmas music!.  Bring the kids and grand kids for hot chocolate and hot dogs!

Wishing everyone a great month ahead, and a Happy Thanksgiving !

Mark Lerner

786-599-5816

https://www.TheHighwaymenCollector.com

And if you are not already a member of our Facebook group: The Florida Highwaymen Collector: BUY/SELL/TRADE – you can find us here! : 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/715680562908385