My 3 scents...
It's true, some of you guys don't get it...
DeRosa, in the very early 70s, was like Colnago in the 60s and even Cinelli in the 50s, or Singer and Herse when the old man were alive. It was a very small atelier with very few hands on the bikes (and one pair of those hands very likely were those of Ugo himself) and with incredible Palmares as far as famous riders and wins. This bike also was in absolutely exceptional original condition...... The bike a link with a builder's grand career and at the same time a superbly crafted object. There probably were not many more bikes made by DeRosa that year than Confente's total. And, after cosmetics, who was Confente compared to DeRosa? Not meaning to take away from Confente but good gosh, look at DeRosa's place in cycling history!
Frankly, to try to compare this era DeRosa with Peugeot or Bianchi is absolutely silly. Those are huge companies with hundreds of employees who mostly could give a crap about the look of a lug or the author's signature.
As far as one of us going to Italy and easily bringing back a bike in that condition, you must be joking! Mateo would be offering them to us now if they existed! How naive!
I think if this bike had been 50 cm to 55 cm, the Japanese would have been in the auction further. Everyday, I am selling anonymously made production bikes for $7K; IMO, modern, high tech and rather boring bikes compared to that DeRosa.
You all had better: A.) learn what makes a hand crafted vintage bicycle truly valuable and (once you "get it"), B.) start saving your money because the genuinely good stuff will be going higher and higher.
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC USA