> At the turn of the Century (1900) Diamond Jim Brady gave his 200 lb. sweetheart,
> Lillian Russell, a gold plated bike w. mother of pearl handlebars, and diamonds,
> rubies, sapphires and emeralds mounted on the spokes. Reputed to have cost
> $10,000 in the real money of the day. She rode it every Sunday in a white riding
> suit and Tyrolian hat. The prurient rich were ever so. Money triumphs over good
> taste and/or function. Where is that bike now? Art Link,San Antonio,TX,USA
I do believe it's in storage at the University of California, Davis -- heavily stripped, unfortunately. Actually, it's a tandem, with the ladies' tubing in front and steering controlled from the rear. There are still mother-of-pearl panels on the headtube. Some filagree remains. While it's not available for public viewing just yet, at least a couple of list members (beyond Robert St. Cyr and I) have had "previews." Oh, Brett Horton, do you remember seeing this particular bike? Jack Romans?
The tandem we're talking about is among about 70 bikes in a collection owned by UC Davis, mostly pre-1900 and thereby out of timeline for CR. That includes one Draisine that's probably 75 years out of timeline -- no kidding. Still, there's the odd Dursley-Pederson, and this tandem, and a six-man pacing tandem that qualify for CR discussion (the chain on that one: MONSTER).
Actually, this functions in some way to introduce my response to an earlier string about what one should ultimately do with one's bikes: Consider UC Davis. As I understand it, Frank Berto promised to donate his prodigeous archive of documents to UCD's Shields Library Special Collections. The current collection of bikes is going to be the basis for a museum here in Davis under the auspices of UCD, supported by Berto's documentation. As some of you already know, Robert St. Cyr and I (among others) are looking to supplement the collection with 20th century bikes of all sorts.
So keep us in mind, okay? If you're interested at all, get in touch with me and I'll keep you updated on our organization, the plans for the museum, and how you might make a donation of hardware, documents, or even funds -- all of which should soon be eligible for some tax consideration. Ultimately, it should make for a pretty nice record of cycling history.