Foolishness is in the eye of the beholder. To assert that buying and selling is totally logical is, in my view, itself the height of foolishness.
Whether or not a bike was built during the lifetime of the company founder or whether by a direct descendant or not perhaps should not logically affect the demand or the price. But so what? Buyers have never been totally logical and never will. Anyone who makes a business plan based on the public consistently making rational buying decisions will quickly go broke. Buyers act as much or more on emotion as they do on logic. This fact is the entire basis of the marketing and advertising industries, whose greatest prophet B.T. Barnum so aptly summaried their mission statement, "There's a sucker born every minute."
I does matter to the price of a classic bike who built it and what his relationship was to the person whose name is on the bike. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does. The Japanese don't pay top dollar for Herses because they are the best bikes ever built. They pay those prices becasue they like Herses. And they probably pay more for Herses built during Rene's lifetime because they like those more. The "true virtue" of an object and its actual price don't correlate very well.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
Phil Sieg <triodelover@comcast.net> wrote:
gholl@optonline.net wrote:
>
> I find it interesting, but hardly surprising, that the Herse racing bikes went to Japan. The interest in Herse touring bikes is centered in Japan and that interest (quite attenuated) merely extended to the racing bikes. What is most surprising is that not a one went to France! Whatever reputation Herse created in the racing world it doesn't appear to persist among French collectors.
> The number of bidders on the Herse bikes were few, not only because few Japanese bidders participated in their sales, but, no one else did either-neither Frenchmen, or Americans, etc.
> The conclusion is obvious, Herse racing bikes don't have the appeal of his touring bikes.
> As a contrast (not in "opposition" as March would like to suggest) such is not the case with Masi racing bikes. The number of bidders were large and worldwide in scope. The widespread interest and reputation of Masi in the racing world has always been strong and continues to be.
> Now, I'm in agreement with March (an Herse dealer) in that I see no reason why one can't collect both Masi and Herse bikes. What would facilitate collecting Herse bikes would be more realistic marketing of Herse bikes, for example lower or no reserves at auction, and the elimination of silent ("blind") auctions-a type of sale in which only the seller knows the number of bidders and the amount of their bid. Discerning buyers generally do not participate in this kind of sale for obvious reasons.
> A better "playing-field" will increase interest and sales.
> George Hollenberg MD
> Westport, CT, USA
>
> George Hollenberg MD
> CT, USA
>
>
>
Gracious, doctor, I hope you practice medicine with greater skill than
statistical analysis. Ten bidders across two auctions and you can say
that the conclusion is obvious? Can you say "small sample size"? There
are no conclusions from these two auctions other than one person was
willing to pay $2500 for a pink Herse and another was willing to pay
$3650 for a Masi of the same vintage. The database is far too small to
conclude anything about the relative worth, merit or attractiveness of
the two marques or the hands that built them, let alone the nonsense
about "posthumous" this versus "son of Faliero" that.
--
Phil Sieg
Knoxville, Tennessee
USA