Raoul- Having a posterior that has seen nothing butt (pardon the pun) Unica saddles for the last 30 years, let me address some of the well intended issues you raise.
In a message dated 9/26/2003 1:18:22 PM Pacific Standard Time, Raoul.L.Delmare@worldnet.att.net writes:
They started off being NOT inexpensive.............. <<First one I bought was only $18, Brooks Pros were going for $45+ at the time.>>
They were NEVER really easy to find.....Waiting was often involved...... <<Never easy to find as OEM, but plentiful non-the-less, and yes you had to ORDER them. Only had to wait if you wanted one before UPS came on the scene.>>
Then, about the time high-quality flexible plastic saddles from Avocet reached their first big sales peak, Cinelli/Unica - Nitor saddles just seemed to start disappearing. <<I can not recall Avocet ever being a big enough market player to push around other saddle makers, let alone Cinelli. By "disapperaing" do you mean they shipped them back to Italy or ???>>
But they didn't sell all that well (and had to be treated with some care). <<If they diappeared as you mention above, obviously they HAD to sell pretty well.>>
And then they were gone. <<I am not sure what to make of your point here. To begin with, they were almost never OEM, and almost always special order. You can still find them trickling out of various stashes here in the states and the continent. You just have to be careful with your sources. There is an outfit out of Switzerland--Vintage Velos(?), and another down in L.A.--Euro-asia that trying to get $140 a peice for them. You can still pick them up on ebay for $100 less. Alternatively, contact BC of Renaissance Cycles, I bought 4 of them from him a couple years back for $20 a pop.>>