Coming out of hiding for a short while before slinking back to the shadows, I have a few comments to make about this De Rosa auction.
- I absolutely loved the listmeister's comment, rarely have I read a more succinct and to the point post on the CR. - I also felt that Guy's comment was very apropos. - My own estimate on the value of the bike was ever so slightly higher than that given by Mike Kone. I did not expect quite the final amount but given the rarity of the find, it was not totally unwarranted. If you look back, you will also see that I was one of the first to support Charles Andrews when he paid dearly for his same vintage De Rosa frame. In retrospect, I believe many will now understand that his purchase was not that illogical. - Whoever wrote that the buyer is located in Sunnyvale is completely off base. He is an off-and-on reader of the CR and a recent participant at le cirque du cyclisme. He also has a wonderful collection of bikes. I am proud to say that he has deemed two of my former bikes to be worthy of addition to his collection. He also has more knowledge of auctions than perhaps anybody else on the CR list, so it is highly unlikely that he had not reasoned the purchase out beforehand. - Ugo De Rosa was building perhaps 200 frames per year back in 1972, the large majority of those for pros. The auction bike is therefore not only in pristine condition, it is also very rare (whether in the US or Italy), but most importantly it comes from a period when the race palmares of De Rosa bikes were perhaps at their peak. By this I mean that of all the bikes that he built, he had a higher percentage of them among the pros than perhaps any of the other 'large' builders. In 1972, I would guess that over half of his production went to pros and top amateur racers. Furthermore, he wasn't just building for 'no-name' local pros from his region.
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Steven Maasland
Houston, TX, USA