Steve wrote:
> Well, I don't have much experience in this field, but I'd figure the
> group to be at least equivalent to the Coppi bike, probably plus some for
> the extra
> accessories etc. so around 12-15,000? It's always tough to put a value on
> things that are in a way priceless, I wonder how many people who couls
> appreciate a
> bike like this would have the money and willingnes to pay anywhere near
that
> much.
>
> This is one of the things I like about the bike stuff, if it were baseball
> jerseys
> and such it would probably be closer to 100,000.
>
> Just to satisfy my curiosity, I thought the curved skewers weren't made
till
> 78?
> Did the top level riders have the cpsc versions early?
I cannot agree with this assessment at all. George Mount, no matter how important to US cycling history is a comparative non-entity in the world scene. Furthermore, the Montreal games were not considered to be a truly indicative measure of cycling athletic value, as at the time, the real top world riders still did not participate at olympic games. Since American collectors are but a small portion of the possible market for any high end bike, I believe it would be unlikely that a price approaching that obtained for any bike having been used by one of the world-admired riders could ever occur. It is however true that all that you need are two determined bidders to knock up the price were the bike to be auctioned off. My own personal guess would be something like 3-4 times the value of the same bike were it to come without any illustrious provenance.
By the way, there is presently a Bianchi track bike being offered in Italy that supposedly belonged to Fausto Coppi. The owner, an elderly widow, whose late husband has well-known close cycling ties to Fausto and Serse, is asking about $10K for the bike. Nobody, is even moving because the provenance cannot be proven. Without the provenance the bike is worth perhaps $2-3K.
Steven Maasland Moorestown, NJ
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