OK, I promise this is my last post of the day. (This has been more than I normally post in a month. Apologies to those who think I'm boring...).
Ed, FWIW, your post reminded me of an exchange I witnessed at my first bikeshop job back in the '70s.
A customer drives up to the shop, walks in, looks around for a couple minutes. The shop manager asks if he can help him. The customer has a puzzled look on his face. Yes, he says. "Why is this Raleigh Professional so much more expensive than this Record - they're both just bikes?"
My manager replies: "sir, why is your Mercedes that you just drove up in so much more expensive than a Chevette -they're both just cars?"
(The manager had been a helicopter mechanic on the front lines in Vietnam, and so maybe wasn't the most diplomatic with customers now and then....).
Customer: "Oh, that's different...."
(Also, I thought it was pretty neat but not necessarily shocking when that corner table that the woman had bought for $25 at a garage sale went for $400,000+ at Christie's following its appearance on The Antiques Roadshow).
(The value of anything is what someone else is willing to pay for it at that particular moment...).
Cheers,
Greg Parker A2 (almost Detroit, but snootier) MI USA
Ed K. wrote (in part):
<snip>
> Bikes for me are fun. I raced them, I repaired them when I worked in a
> bike shop, I even collect a few. I ride often, heck, some people around
> here
> even think I know something about them. I appreciate the Confente; I want
> it. But don't belittle anyone who doesn't fathom why an old bike could be
> worth $5K. That's house payment or tuition money or whatever for a lot of
> folk. Think of your reaction the next time you hear a Christy's or
> Sotheby's
> price quoted in the paper. The value of the Confente has nothing to do
> with
> reason. You can't argue it. The market will dictate the
> price...personally,
> I hope Lou gets it. And I hope he thinks it a bargain.
> Respectfully,
> Ed Kasper
> Detroit