August 2025 Auction and Market Review
August is typically the sleepy month of the year. It usually has only a single small auction by Manor, as Manor is determined to maintain their monthly auction schedule whether the market warrants it or not. However, this year The Highwaymen market was as full as an in-season February or March period. It was a very busy month.
The August calendar this year consisted of:
- Aug 2 The first annual “Great Mid-Summer Florida Landscape Painting Festival”, held at This Is It Café and Highwaymen Gallery in West Palm Beach.
- Aug. 9/10 The Mount Dora “Florida Highwaymen Art Show and Sale”
- Aug. 16 The monthly Manor Auction
- Aug. 23 Florida Highwaymen Auctions, held this month in Davie, FL and online
- Aug. 30 The Circle Auction, held in Kansas City and online
- Aug. 30 Kelvin Hair’s “Highwaymen and Soul Food Experience” held in Ft. Pierce
All-in-all, it was a stunning array of Highwaymen activity held during the traditionally slowest period of the year. I will first discuss each of the events on their own merits, and then try to draw some collective trends of what we saw in the market this month, as well as where the market may be heading this Fall.
1. The First Annual “Great Mid-Summer Florida Landscape Painting Festival”
John and I started this event as a way to inject some momentum during the middle of the summer. When we planned the event in June, we didn’t know or expect that August would be so busy ! It was an extraordinary success. We had 13 artists participate and offering their work on the patio and from their cars in the parking lot It was a beautiful old-school style event. Every artist participating sold paintings. RL Lewis was supposed to participate, but fell ill on the trip to West Palm, and couldn’t make it.
His son arrived late with some fresh RL Lewis paintings to offer. John and I actually had our best single day, sales results ever. We sold multiple Harold
Newtons, multiple Mary Ann Carrolls, multiple James Gibsons, and at least another 6 Highwaymen paintings. We offered complimentary hamburgers and hot dogs fresh off a new grill, complimentary drinks, and everyone had a great time. We are now planning to do this style of large scale event three times each year. Watch for our announcement of the date for late Fall.
2. The Mount Dora “Florida Highwaymen Art Show and Sale”
This is a tough event to describe as I was not personally there, and as one of the longest running Highwaymen events, it has been changing rapidly in the last few years. For starters, the event has become a “Highwaymen Legacy Artist” event and no longer a “Highwaymen” event as most of the original artists who historically participated have now passed on. There were no original Highwaymen artists participating in this year’s event. Further, a self-appointed committee of Legacy Artists has decided to determine who is a Legacy artist and who is not, resulting in the exclusion of many artists who most people believe should have been there.
For example, West Evans, is a highly regarded artist who trained under Al Black for many years. He is quoted in the new book “Paint It Black”, the biography of Al Black, as saying “My art education starts and ends with Al Black, period”. Nonetheless, West is not approved as a “Legacy artist” by the committee and cannot participate at Mt. Dora. This year there were only 7 Legacy artists participating in the event. Historically, Mount Dora was one of the more important Highwaymen events, but I believe the restrictions and trends will make this event less important each year going forward.
3. The Monthly Manor Auction
Manor continued their monthly auction march, with a continuation of the trends that we have seen all year. It was the second month in a row where the auction totals were less than $100,000 – astonishingly small numbers for Manor. (Note: July analysis excludes the anomaly Sam Newton painting which heavily skewed the numbers). You know that any auction is a weak auction when the highest priced painting in the auction is a Rodney Demps.
While similar to the results of the Manor July auction, the numbers in August were still down another few percent. It was clear to everyone (Including Manor) that this was going to be a weak auction, and as a result, the target prices were actually reduced this month to an accurate reflection of the painting values. These realistic estimates had the positive result that hammer prices exceeded the targets by 20% – a good result when looking at the auction performance from that perspective.
Once again, 32% of the auction was represented by Sam Newton and Willie Daniels paintings. The relentless surge of paintings by these two artists continues to have the impact of depressing prices for these two artists. It is well known that the auction house is selling off these paintings by these two artists on behalf of a single dealer.
It seems from several sources I speak with that Manor is holding off all of their good consignments until November, in an effort to have a blockbuster auction that will outshine their traditional November competitor – Rennick Auctions. From what I hear, there will be some strong paintings offered at that time. It’s not clear where the auction house is going in the coming 2 months leading up to the November auction, but based upon this, I expect not much exciting activity in the September and October Manor auctions.
The repetitive nature of the monthly Manor Auctions has both contributed to, and resulted in, the declining state of the Highwaymen market during the last 6 months
2025 Manor Auction Performance and Trends (Note * Numbers skewed in July due to a single Sam Newton painting with a target value of $30,000.)
| Total Target | Total Hammer | |
|---|---|---|
| January | $200,550 | $233,200 |
| February | $203,000 | $213,450 |
| March | $202,600 | $233,200 |
| April | $186,850 | $162,850 |
| May | $139,750 | $143,950 |
| June | $112,950 | $122,000 |
| July (with Sam) | $104,250 | $118,950 * |
| July (excl. Sam) | $74,250 | $87,950 |
| August | $71,400 | $86,300 |
The top lot at the August Manor auction: Rodney Demps. Hammer price $6,800
The bargain of the August Manor auction: James Gibson, 23 x 38 on Linen Upson. Hammer price $950
4. Florida Highwaymen Auctions, Held This Month in Davie, FL and Online
The Florida Highwaymen Auctions auction at the end of August was quickly put together due to a more traditional auction of books, porcelain, artifacts and furniture that the auction house scheduled for this month. On relatively short notice, they added a nice group of 33 Highwaymen paintings, which hammered for a total of $81,600. This compares to the hammer total of $123,100 from their more traditional Highwaymen auction in July. Auction target prices were all on the high side – not sure why – resulting in a majority of the paintings not reaching the target, and 4 paintings passing.
Nonetheless, the quality paintings did extremely well, with the Harold Newton poinciana hammering at $20,000 against a target price of $15,000. A nice, medium sized Mary Ann Carroll, which hung in the retrospective exhibition in Orlando, did well hammering at $5,250 against a target price of $5,000.
This was an auction scheduled on short notice and I do not feel indicative of their other recent auctions which attracted a large and quality crowd of collectors.
Top lot in the August Florida Highwaymen Auctions: Harold Newton “3D RP”, 24×36 on Upson. Hammer price $20,000
Bargain of the Florida Highwaymen August Auction: Roy McLendon’s “Night Swimmers”, 24×36 on upson. Hammer price $2,000
5. The Circle Auction, August 30, Kansas City and Online
This was an auction which shocked the market, and came out of nowhere. Unbelievably, the 36 paintings hammered for a total of $271,450 against total target prices of $92,900 – almost 3 times the target prices. And buyers must still add to this a buyers fee ranging from 19-24%, plus the cost of getting the paintings back to Florida.
From what I know, most of the Circle Auction presented a single-owner collection of 36 Highwaymen paintings, featuring 17 landscapes by Harold Newton, as well as works by Alfred Hair, Roy McLendon, Livingston Roberts, Mary Ann Carroll, Al Black, Willie Daniels, Sam Newton, Lemuel Newton, Willie Reagan, and George Buckner. The collection was formed in Florida more than 20 years ago, and was transferred to Kansas City with the owner when he moved.
Estimates on virtually all paintings were very conservative – leading collectors into believing that there would be many bargains at this auction. With a high buyers fee, and what was expected to be high shipping costs, all collectors I spoke with expected this would hold down prices.
Little did anyone realize that the bids would blow through the target prices in pre-bidding, and in the first 6 lots alone, each painting more than doubled its HIGH estimate. The first 6 lots hammered for almost $50,000, and then the 7th lot – the Harold Newton “Upshore Sunset” – reached a hammer price of $45,000 against a target price of $10,000. This was the tone of virtually the entire auction. Every painting hammered at a price exceeding the target price. In fact, 31 of the 36 paintings had a hammer price exceeding the HIGH estimate. This is the way professional auction houses operate. Low estimates to bring in large numbers of bidders. I have been saying for years that the estimates in all Highwaymen auctions are always too high – which discourages bidding. From what I know, almost all the paintings were purchased by collectors – not dealers.
I reported the $45,000 Harold Newton painting in my short post yesterday. The second highest price painting in the auction was also by Harold Newton. Grazing Cattle, 18×24 Oil on Canvas board. The painting hammered at $21,000 against an auction estimate of $4,000 – $6,000.
The bargain in the Circle auction: There were none. The lowest priced painting was the $2,600 painting by Al Black. (24×36 on Upson). With the buyers fee, that put the price of this painting somewhere over $3,000 – which must be a record price paid for an Al Black painting.
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6. The “Highwaymen and Soul Food Experience”, August 30
This was a new format event. A highwaymen sale, along with a non-optional meal which all visitors had to pay for in order to attend the event. To the best of my understanding, all venues and dealers (Manor, Rennick, Florida Highwaymen Auctions, This Is It Café & Highwaymen Gallery, Florida Galleria in New Smyrna, and Treasure Coast Collectibles in Vero) provide a complimentary meal, or some casual food at their events, at no charge.
Nonetheless, the event had a solid attendance. I believe there were about 10 tables of 8 seats each, and most tables had 6 to 8 people seated. The event strangely looked more like a wedding, than an art event ?? Surrounding the tables were Legacy Highwaymen artists selling and displaying their work. I would estimate there were about 8 artists participating in the event room. There no presentations, and little structure to the event.
With the set-up in the photo below, I think this was a missed opportunity. A speaker could have addressed the group with an informational presentation about the Highwaymen, or even some of the Legacy artists who are not as well known could have spoken. It was a missed opportunity.
Kelvin Hair’s gallery next door was open to anyone walking in, but the event room with the Legacy artists was not open to the public. All-in-all, I thought it was a strange approach to selling artwork. I know of several people who are “regulars” at Highwaymen events, but did not attend this one due to the cost.
Billed as “The Highwaymen Soul Food Experience”, it will be interesting to see if this format is repeated. Although sales were moderately successful, I expect it will not be done again. Photos posted by Kelvin and Michael Love show several paintings being sold, but I have not heard about the success of the other artists. Nonetheless, any event promoting Highwaymen art sales is good for the market – even if collectors have to pay to attend.
What Does It All Mean for the Current and Near-term Highwaymen Market?
It has been clear that in the last 4-5 months, the market has been in a general malaise. Most Highwaymen artists have had their prices sitting on a plateau. They have been flat and not increasing the way they had been from 2020-2024. As I have been reporting for the last 6 months, Harold Newton, Sam Newton, and Willie Daniels have all been seeing their values decline. Rodney Demps and Robert Butler have seen their values increase. This is a new phenomenon ! Some artists have rising prices, some have declining prices, all at the same time.
There are several dynamics in the market that are affecting pricing – mostly supply and demand related. Demand had been growing steadily for the last 10+ years. While the demand is still there and still growing, it has recently been growing at a much slower rate. The number of new collectors has slowed. As a general commentary, virtually every collector in the market has by now acquired one or more nice Sam Newton paintings. These collectors generally don’t need another ! Yet there has been a relentless flow of Sam Newton paintings into the market. Economics 101 tells us that this increasing supply, along with slowing demand, is what is resulting in lower prices, or at best, steady prices. We will not see prices going up when there is a steady increase in supply of paintings (ie Sam Newton and Willie Daniels).
There has also been a dramatic increase of Highwaymen sales, events, and auctions. This month is the perfect example – 6 events in 4 weeks during the slowest period of the year. All of this activity coming into the market, with little to no growth in demand, is keeping prices down. And there are even more new Highwaymen auctioneers coming this Fall as well !
The new market, as I like to call it, is comprised of three large groups of market participants. First – the collectors, who ultimately drive the market. Second – the “old line” dealers and auction houses who have controlled the market for the last 20+ years, and Third – the “new market participants” (both dealers and auctioneers) who are growing in size and number rapidly, and are now taking a larger and larger slice of the Highwaymen pie. The current issue in the market is that the Highwaymen pie has largely stopped growing.
Market Disruption:
In order to simplify the blog, I will refer to the old-line participants as the “Elders. The new market participants I will refer to as the “Disrupters”. (By-the-way – I do not regard every long term 20-year dealer as an old school “Elder”. Some of the older dealers have kept up with the market effectively.)
The market is seeing an increased numbers of events (generally a good thing for collectors and the market), increased numbers of auctions, and all are producing an increased supply of Highwaymen art coming into the market.
This is all reflected in the new structures of the Highwaymen facebook groups – only one of the mechanisms for collectors to source paintings. The old-line dealers and auction houses had a strong business for years, without using any digital medium for their business. In fact, Manor Auctions used to say proudly that they had nothing to do with facebook, and it was not the way to do business. Many of the newer dealers embraced it, and it finally took off as one of the central forces in the Highwaymen market. Now, all of the Elders are rushing in and pouring in resources in an attempt to control the facebook market.
Manor Auctions just purchased the largest facebook group in an effort to remove most dealers from using it, and to control it for themselves. The same has happened with second largest facebook group now being controlled and administered by Elders who are also new to the facebook market. What does all this mean ?
… dramatic increases in facebook marketing of paintings, auctions and events. An explosion of paintings being promoted to a relatively fixed group of collectors. Increased supply, flat demand, all resulting in price decreases, or flat pricing at best. This is what is defining the market in the most recent 6 months.
The Highwaymen market is changing rapidly because the Disrupters have become more active than the Elders. And it has been an increasing trend. In the end, it’s all good for the market, but the market is going through some turbulence as the Elders struggle to aggressively attempt to take back their market share. This market competition is not an environment that creates higher prices for the artwork. The intense competition actually creates lower prices. But it is good for collectors.
There is a reason that the market value today of General Motors is $56 Billion, and the market value of Tesla is $1.1 Trillion. Both make cars. There is a reason that the market value of Intel is $106 Billion, and the market value of Nvidia is $4.2 Trillion. Both make chips. The reason is Market Disruption, and in a much smaller way, it is happening in the Highwaymen market. The Disrupters are creating change, and creating value. And they are growing rapidly as a result.
Market disruption and turbulence create opportunities ! Collectors should use this opportunity to acquire quality paintings now, because things will turn around and the market will certainly be heading back up. It’s just a question of when.
In my opinion, this change in market direction is going to start between now and the end of this year.
The Circle Auction was actually a disruptive event. The auction came out of nowhere, and blew prices off the charts. It has shown that with the right paintings of quality, all in one place (even in Kansas City instead of Vero Beach), collectors will do whatever they need to do in order to acquire those paintings.
When collectors see something new and unusual, with quality, they go for it.
Florida Highwaymen Auctions is doing things differently and shaking up the market. They are Disrupters. Everyone remembers the reaction from Manor last January when they held their first major auction. They use different venue’s each auction, every auction has had a different buyer and seller fee structure. Even the lunches change at every auction. They have had some very high quality art. It’s all building, and every painting that they sell at auction, is a painting that one of the traditional auction houses doesn’t sell. They are not trying to attract collectors by offering the same fried turkey, ham, and pizza lunch every month. They are being disruptive and they are succeeding. They just sent a van to Kansas City to pick up paintings for collectors who purchased at Circle Auction. They do things differently. It is no surprise that they are banned from attending auctions at Manor. But they are growing rapidly.
Likewise, our business, “The Highwaymen Collector” and “This Is It Café & Highwaymen Gallery” have also been doing things differently and disrupting the market. We are organizing high quality exhibitions and sales events all over the state. We have a different major event almost every month, such as the Mary Ann Carroll retrospective exhibition in Orlando this past June, the exhibition at the Royal Poinciana Fiesta in Coral Gables this past June, the permanent installation at the Orlando Convention Center this past April, the Mid-Summer Festival in West Palm Beach this August, and the most recent hanging of Highwaymen paintings in the Wray Museum at Flamingo Gardens in Davie. We are organizing a major event in Daytona in November. We have some surprising blockbuster museum exhibitions on the way, although we have not yet announced them.
Even our monthly blog has had a major market impact in the market, and is looked forward to by so many collectors. One of the Elders tried to replicate our blog last year, but gave up after just 2 issues.
In my view – this is all great news for the market. We are heading into the Fall season. All major collectors (and others reading this blog and hearing news about the Circle auction), are looking at the market differently. People see that for a great painting – the demand is HIGH. EXTREMELY HIGH ! Prices exploded.
All markets are based in part on psychology. Most collectors believe their paintings are also just as good, and they feel positive about the value and trend in pricing when they see an auction like Circle. It’s positive messaging on top of positive messaging. It instills confidence. It will have a positive impact in the market between now and the end of the year.
I expect this market turn-around to grow slowly in September/October, and then really take off in November/December. All the Disrupters in the market (and there are many), are ready to take advantage of the market turn. The Elders will continue doing what they are doing, and will be swept up with the rest of the market. (High tides lift all ships).
And finally, another disruptive event taking place will be the release of the film “Legends of the Highway” in October or November (No date or streaming service yet announced). While I am sure the film will be greatly embraced by all collectors, it is unclear what impact it will have in expanding the collector market. However, there is only upside potential with the release of the film, and I am sure it will be another factor that will have a positive impact.
I have been criticized by many for reporting the market slowdown of the last 6 months. My response has been that you can’t hide your head in the sand and say the market is great, when it’s not. I have always tried to be honest and objective in these blogs. There has never been any market that only moves in one direction only – up. But many Elders in the market have been endlessly promoting the idea that the market has been strong. It has not been true, But I do believe that we are now on the edge of the market turnaround !
It’s September 1st. Start your engines ! We will see you in Daytona, and in many other new locations between now and the end of the year.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Hunting !
Mark Lerner
786-599-5816