(Note: Contains bike content!)-- a few years ago I bolstered my collection of JRR Tolkien 1st US editions (built up over a quarter century) via eBay and some online used book search engines. I got some great bargains (that's all I can afford), but the scary thing is how the books I bought have all shot up tremendously in value in just a couple of years, and I'm priced out of the ones I don;t have but need. My favorite example is "Oliphaunt," a 1989 children's book (a board book in fact) -- I bought one for $9 about two years ago, and today they're between $125 and $150, if you can find one.
Part of it is the movie raising interest, but much more important was the internet in simultaneously (and explosively) broadening and depleting the market. What's going to happen when the whole world's online, not just the western digital elite such as we be? ;-) But seriously, think of the poor saps who'd love to bid on a Confente, have the money, too, but no Internet because they live in the unwired world. And plenty of people spend more on clothes than that bike. Once something's "discovered," there's no going back.
Sorry about the length but the eBay thing's just going to get worse. I never thought I'd see a $2000 derailleur or $55,000 Lord of the Rings set but here we are. God knows what will happen with bikes, but there may not be as nice a Confente up for sale to the general pub in a long, long time. Lots more people in the world will want what cyclists in Europe and the US have taken for granted. Look at the price for SR derailleurs and other Campy stuff. Affordable stuff is already disappearing. And that Simplex stuff's just scary. It'll happen to all collectibles with worldwide appeal. Glad I saved all my LPs! (they're in fantastic shape -- all in plastic. My retirement fund ;-) Dennis Ryan Louisville, KY
----Original Message Follows---- From: Brandon Ives <monkey37@bluemarble.net> To: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> CC: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, Philcycles@aol.com Subject: Re: [CR]Confente "Scam" ends Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 13:58:26 -0500 (EST)
OK let's think in terms of "masters" Confente as Van Gogh and Mr. Sachs as Eric Fischl or Henry Moore. Sure anybody can buy a MFA project or "limited" print or they can buy a Canonndale. We're talking about the top 0.1% of "artists." By those standards the Confente is cheap, but I don't want to see the people that have made 5th state Rembrandt print cost $2000+, make ANY Masi cost $10,000. I never want to see the name become more important than the item. Maybe it's the fact that I'm looking at another 50 years of collecting so my view is quite long. I'm scared for the future of "lightweight" collecting. enjoy, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
"Nobody can do everything, but if everybody did something everything would get done." Gil Scott-Heron
On Mon, 18 Jun 2001, Chuck Schmidt wrote:
> Brandon Ives wrote:
> >
> > The market for bike parts is 100x larger than any of the "fine
> > arts" markets.
>
> Let's see... the number of art galleries vs. the number of bike shops
> dealing in vintage bikes and parts? Hummmmmm...
>
> Chuck Schmidt
>
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