"I believe it was an italian frame, or early Carlsbad production, I just can't remember now, and I was hooked (this would have been 1973 or thereabouts)...for that reason, the earliest GCs have the most value to me, and, it seems, for others too. This is why they fetch much more on the open market than the later iterations of the GC"
At the same time the 83 San Marcos California Masi GC that I won on ebay, there was an early 70's Italian offering along the lines of the ones you describe. So these went up near the same time, effectively competing.They were close to the same size, so that wasn't a primary factor.To be fair the 70's one had been recently repainted, whatever effect that had. Difference in end price was maybe little more than $100 or so. But both commanded considerably more attention than the current case even though it was winter. So I have to conclude this one on ebay now is just a sleeper..
Certainly no expert, clearly a newbie, I chose to concentrate on the 83. Many others did too. As it turned out, in a quirk of fate, the seller of the one I bought, ended by winning the 70's Italian one. In the end everyone was probably happy with the prize they wanted. The LBS estimated that many of the 70's Masis you describe, even Italian examples, were worth no more than $200 more than mine.This seems to agree with price estimates in Mr. Brown's site. In all cases on his site none of the Masis up to the 80's were valued at less than $900. So my point is it takes a lot to explain the low current bids for the Masi offered on ebay now,even if not entirely SR/NR equipped.
Mark Cutrufelli Laurel, MD
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