Tom:
Pricing / value really depends on which model of bike it is from any given maker, as well as vintage, size, and 3 other things (condition, condition, condition). Just because it's an Herse doesn't make it worth $8000. That red one that Matt got recently IIRC was worth IMO about what it went for - $2100 or so. The 1975 chrome Demountable is "too new" to some people's tastes to go way high, I think.
For Herse values and prices, a trip to the various fine websites in Japan that feature many Herses will often give a good indication of price ranges for some of the many models that Monsieur Herse sold. The range is probably $2000 - 10,000 in terms of asking prices.
Personally, I've not seen any across-the-board drop in vintage bike prices. That said, eBay is a whacky place where the same identical item can sell today for three times what it sold for yesterday, or one-third of the earlier price. Therefore, I wouldn't put too much stock in prices on eBay as the arbiter of market values. It's just too nutty there.
Cheers,
Greg "still Herseless" Parker (and Confenteless too) Ann Arbor, MI USA
P.S. The early C-Rec bikes may become valuable in about 2005 or so when they
fit the CR Timeline!
> Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 08:10:34 -0500
> From: "Tom Sanders" <tsan7759142@attbi.com>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: [CR]Downward spiral of classic bike prices
>
> I just noted a very clean Masi with apparently very clean C Record =
> components that didn't make $600 on E-Bay. It seems to me like just =
> last year one could have bought the bike, parted it out and offered the =
> frame for that. The last 3 Renee Herse and the last four Eisentraut =
> bikes haven't made their reserves as far as I can see. An Apparently =
> very clean Frejus just went for a hair over $400. A McLean for $600. I =
> am wondering, will we see these prices come back up in the meaningful =
> future, or are we really the last of a vanishing breed of bike fans? =
> Maybe there's no one really here but us? I am feeling a bit like a =
> stranger in a strange land.
> Where do the other list members see this going?
> Tom Sanders
> Lansing, Mi