Re: [CR]Confente on Craigslist S.F.

Well, I think maybe $9,000 is very ambitious, even for a Confente. Frankly, I've never quite understood Confente pricing. I mean even if one concedes that Mario was a great framebuilder, even maybe as good as any there has ever been, why should his frames command much more than equally great framebuilders? I mean, I find it hard to believe that his work is actually better than that of Richard Sachs or Brian Baylis or Peter Weigle or Doug Fattic or Bruce Gordon. And even if one likes the Italian style, there have been hundreds of great framebuilders in Italy, most of whom we never even heard of, and yet I don't think any of them command Confente-like prices.

Now the fact he died young of course means he built relatively few frames and even fewer under his own name, but McLean Fonvielle and Dave Tesch likewise died young, but their frames do not command Confente pricing.

I have to believe it is his compelling story combined with the amazing number of now prominant framebuilders associated with CA Masi in some way that has put Confente in a class shared only perhaps by Singer and Herse. Is that it, or can someone point out something concrete he did that even other great framebuilders were unable to do?

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA