Let's not discount luck from the equation. The world of buying and selling rare and not so rare bikes is in many cases simply a function of being in the right place at the right time for either buyer and/or seller. For every $3,000 Paramount or $1500 plus Holdsworth Pro frame (I am sure some o f you remember that one, with the rivet popped into the downtube), there is a $200 antique shop Pogliaghi or a $350 Colnago Mexico with the 6-arm Ambrosi a crankset ( I was the happy finder of that one). In some cases, the seller is in the right place at the right time as he has two or more eager buyers willing to pay almost anything for a bike and in others a buyers happens upon an outrageous deal.
On 2/23/06, C. Andrews <chasds@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> Chuck S. wrote:
>
> Extreme rarity does not always equate to high prices in the
> marketplace.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, Southern California
>
> *********
>
> Regarding the chrome paramount...if you subtract the price
> of the no-logo brakes and the early levers, the bike sold
> for about 2000 bucks..still high, but not that outta line
> for a die-hard paramount collector. Those brakes and
> levers, with the cables, casings, and ferrules (a turnkey
> brakeset, in other words), would sell for over 1500 bucks on
> ebay, easily, I'm guessing. The last set I remember went
> for north of 1200 bucks, and it wasn't in nearly as good
> condition..anyone know what the latest ebay price-paid has
> been on those, as a complete set? I suspect others have
> sold more recently that I've missed.
>
> Those brakes are the coolest of the cool for many top
> late-60s racing frames, so the market for them is very
> strong. Japanese collectors would surely have a lot of
> interest in them too... 1600 bucks isn't far-fetched.
>
> You could replace those brakes with some nice Weinmanns for
> cheap, and the bike would still be completely
> period-correct.
>
> As for the issue of extreme rarity, I have a perfect example
> hanging here at home. My Argos criterium frame. I was the
> original buyer in 1975 or so. Very rare frame. You hardly
> ever see them. I know some quantity of them was brought
> into the country around that time, but not many, and they
> weren't around for long. Worth almost nothing, except to
> me. Nice, stiff racing frame, with the most bulletproof
> paint you ever saw. Workmanship is average, or worse.
> Really bad toe-clip overlap. I wouldn't sell it, but if I
> did, I'd be lucky to get 100 bucks for it, imho.
>
> I'm trying to think, now, of a very rare frame or bike from
> that time that *would* be worth a lot. Rene Herse comes to
> mind. Imagine one of the last Herses touched by Rene
> himself. If you could prove that? You'd have hit the
> lottery. Would Rene's last frame be better as a rider or
> racer than my lowly Argos? Probably. Would it be 2 or 3K
> better? There we enter the weightless realm of ego
> gratification.
>
> Charles Andrews
> SoCal
>
> "The deeper I go in considering the
> vanities of popular reasoning, the
> lighter and more foolish I find them."
>
> --Galileo Galilei
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
--
Sadiq Gill
Richmond, VA