Bonhams at Stafford

[Dogsbody]

Is the economy flat? At the auction today you could be persuaded to the contrary. A Vincent for £275,900, a Brough for £147,100 another at £138,140 and a Velo Thruxton for £24,150. Some prices were right, others barmy but it is obviously a case of one man's meat is another man's poison. I would never pay over £6k for an Ariel Arrow Sports but it probably cost more than that for the restoration, so who can say what is right.
Dogsbody

[John Wakefield]

And as you have already posted elswhere the 5 Greeves scramblers made very little money.
lot 361 1961 Hawkstone £1495
lot 362 1969 Griffon 250 £2415
lot 363 1969 Griffon 380 £2070
lot 364 1961 Hawkstone £1265
lot 365 1965 Challenger MX2 £1380
Old nails & basket cases have made more on eBay. These were genuine bikes. Greeves are obviously not the 'flavor of the month'

[greeves246]

auction price

I collected them as i like the design and engineering and they are easy to restore also the first brittish bike i ever owned at the age of 13

[Colin Sparrow]

And as you have already posted elswhere the 5 Greeves scramblers made very little money.
lot 361 1961 Hawkstone £1495
lot 362 1969 Griffon 250 £2415
lot 363 1969 Griffon 380 £2070
lot 364 1961 Hawkstone £1265
lot 365 1965 Challenger MX2 £1380
Old nails & basket cases have made more on eBay. These were genuine bikes. Greeves are obviously not the 'flavor of the month'

I had a good look at them. They were "all there" but had obviously been in storage for a while and needed work. The Griffon prices were about right, the Hawkstones not far out but I'm surprised the Challenger didn't fetch a little bit more.

Those are hammer prices of course, a buyer would also be looking at the commission on top of that.

[Dogsbody]

Colin, The prices quoted included buyers premium. Dogsbody

[greeves246]

prices

Another thing we have to consider is its right before a election ! so people may be a bit prudent in spending not knowing the outcome

[Andy Z]

Other than Vincent Black Shadows, most bikes seem to be cheaper at auctions like Bonhams than ebay. Ebay reaches a far wider audience. I haven't looked at this year's results, but there were some right bargains last year.

[John Wakefield]

Auction prices

As I said in my previous comment, there appears to be a huge difference in prices achieved for various makes. Vincent, Brough & other 'exotics' have always been high but other grey porridge bikes like Bantams, Fanny Barnetts & of course early jap stuff has been creaping up, all except Greeves. I think it may be that the buyers are mainly road bike orientated & comp bikes, except for those with a 'works /famous rider' history dont appeal to the 'investment' buyer. Very few of those Vincents & Broughs will ever be ridden.
As an aside there were very few bikes in the Cheffins Auction at Cambridge last Saturday & no Greeves. The higest price paid was £21800 for a 1936 BSA J12/Swallow sidecar outfit owned by 'Uncle Jim' whoever he was http://www.cheffins.co.uk/lot/-1141613-vintage-0 and at the lower end a 125 1950 Bantam trials "in working clothes" made £2350 http://www.cheffins.co.uk/lot/-1141618-vintage-0 Prices on cars & commercials were well down, so maybe as Greeves246 says, there is a reflectancy for people to open their wallets with the impending election

[Dick F]

Bonhams Auction

It was a topsy turvy auction , i watched it on line also, was it you 246 who bought the griffons?, from what i could see, it would seem that there are a lot of investors who are using this to make money as interest rates are so bad, most bikes that were sold were also purchased only a few years ago! and severall were sold by Bonhams them.

I think Greeves bikes are better sold through e bay or the club as it was obvious , there were not many off road collectors bidding, a shame as there were below £3,000 some good deals to be had on modern road bikes as well