In a message dated 7/15/03 7:48:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time, chuckschmidt@earthlink.net writes:
> Well, clearly and unequivocally the Campagnolo catalogs state otherwise,
> so at this point it is clear that the seller intends to mislead
> prospective buyers into thinking that they are bidding on a first
> generation Gran Sport, when in fact, what he has for auction is a second
> generation Gran Sport "Extra" (not considered "extremely rare" nor "the
> Holy Grail" among collectors either).
>
The way I look at this situation, is that according to the "Campagnolo Time
Line" this derailleur is a one-year-of-production only item from 1952. It's
fairly rare, if not "the holy grail". The 1953 through 1955 ones (3rd gen.and the
last with the open C on the back) are only common compared to the first two
versions that were each made for one year only. The "common ones are that ones
later than these first 3 versions, and according to the timeline, there are 6
versions. The first version is the 1951 and the changes follow in 1952, 1953,
1956, 1960 and 1961.
As an aside, I know a fellow who found one of the first year 1951 derailleurs
at a swap meet in the USA. I find it hard to believe they only made 10 of
those. There may indeed be a version they only made 10 of, but without proof, I
can't buy that story. Too many have turned up.
The bottom line is, the one for sale may have the facts about it exaggerated
to the point of "it's an error", but it is still a very scarce piece in the
world of collecting.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA