[CR]How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? (Pondering Pricing Paradigms)

(Example: Framebuilders:Masi)

From: "R.S. Broderick" <rsb000@hotmail.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 02:14:09 -0500
Subject: [CR]How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? (Pondering Pricing Paradigms)

I certainly do not intend to call into question a buyer's motivations with respect to that amount of monies tendered as bid in an eBay auction (...goodness knows, my own circumstance in this regard has been called into question before in this very forum). However, I do believe that it would be interesting and perhaps instructive to solicit commentary in the abstract as to the final disposition of these very recent eBay auctions:

1) Item number 220108969114 - First Edition Campagnolo Record "Long Arm / Long Reach" Brake Calipers With Hoods - twelve bids total with only two above the $475.00 threshold - final sales price: $726.00 (...previously brought to the attention of this list, but without any follow-up commentary - at least "On List")

2) Item number 270119470973 - First Edition Campagnolo Record "No Name" Brake Calipers - twelve bids total with only two above the $600.00 threshold - final sales price: $1372.67

True enough, the same person prevailed in both of these auctions, and obviously one could conclude that they were a particularly "motivated buyer". Personally, I do not give a fat rat's patootie whether one thinks the relative amount of monies involved are out of line or out of their own budget or simply out there. However, I am interested in soliciting the opinions, insights, and musings of others who monitor this List as to whether or not sales such as these have any impact on perceptions regarding their own (...current or contemplated) vintage stable of two wheeled wonders, and if so, do you see this as being a "good thing", a "bad thing", or just a "nothing" having no bearing whatsoever on our collective common passion? Certainly, one can draw some rather interesting comparisons to other "collector" venues where an actual shift in the pricing paradigm wrought substantial changes in the group composition itself. Maybe such analogies are meaningful and instructive here, and maybe they are not - after all, there is a contingent among us for whom the utilitarian aspect of the whole scene is of paramount import (...which is to say, some are more interested in riding the damn things - consideration for bicycles as "functional artwork" are entirely secondary).

Your comments?

Robert "curious (by) George" Broderick ...the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota Sioux Falls, USA

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