the japanese have *definitely* been involved in this for a while now. ive heard stories of them cleaning out bike shops in hong kong and france from the early 80s (and by cleaning out, i mean walking in and buying *everything*), and there are regular japanese correspondents in the french cyclotouring magazine "le cycliste" back in the 40s and 50s!
at the same time, ive also heard comment that many of the herse bikes in the new cycling books have been fitted with components inappropriate to their original construction - there is definitely a certain set of component manufacturers that are more desireable, for whatever reasons (mostly ones that are typically listed in ads for rene herse) - perhaps a certain herse came with different components, but it has more appeal with jos, or herse cranks, or...
but this is not something the japanese are solely guilty of, this is for certain...
they do, however, seem to have a tendency to collect at any expense - theyll go for everything they can get of a certain marque or whatever it is theyre collecting, in almost any condition, and theyll pay whatever it takes to get something they want for their collection. combine that level of devotion/obsession (tomato/tomatoe) with either a good bit of disposable income or a willingness to sacrifice everything else, and boom. youve got some crazy ebay bid pirces.
ive sold a few bits here and there to mr. amaki, and to other japanese buyers, and they are invariably prompt payers and feedback-leavers, a pleasure to do business with. do i know full well that if they choose to, they can probably turn the same item around in japan for double what they paid me for it? do i sometimes grumble over wishing i had the disposable income to spend on bikes that they seem to? hell yeah. but to grumble about that while selling them what ive sold them for the prices theyve won the auctions for would be somewhat hypocritical...
heck, working off my income, i can grumble about what most anyone on this list can afford to spend on bikes! :)
which is why i mostly collect data instead :)
-joel
>Brandon,
>I know Mr. Amaki personally, and have seen his collection. He is
>very serious and passionate, and head-first into building his
>collection and acquiring a good knowledge base. His cycles are
>featured extensively in the Herse book that was published last year
>and many of his components and ephemera are shown on Sartoru's web
>page.
>I do not believe he is as much of a dealer/seller as he is a
>collector. Besides, it's his right to find whatever equitability he
>can to float his pleasures. I don't begrudge him for that.
>When I visited Japan a couple of years ago for the International
>Cycling History Conference, attendees were treated to a visits of
>quite a few serious collections, and a wining 'n dining hosted by
>the Shimano Company that made every American attendee feel
>microscopically small. The Japanese have been a pnnacle to this
>hobby long before it evolved into a serious hobby in the US, and
>continue to do so. They are very passionate.
>To put in greater perspective, Mr. Amaki is not even considered on
>the top teir of Japanese collectors. The vast majority of them are
>very private, as are many collectors in the US (I can think of at
>least a dozen top collectors who do not participate in Ebay, CR, the
>popular shows that we know of (Lars, CdC, Velo Rendezvous).
>They don't know what they're missing :)
>Take care,
>Ken Denny
>Boston
>
> Brandon Davis <art_52@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>I can say, with a certain amount of smug Holmesian logic, and after
>inadvertently following his bidding patterns while seeking similar items for
>my project, that I seriously doubt "kauzo" is even a collector per se (he's
>obviously an enthusiast btw), but offer the likely alternative that he's
>purchasing for eventual resale (likely enough, on the Japanese/Asian
>market).
>
>
>
>.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
>
>_______________________________________________
--
joel metz : magpie@messengers.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
bike messengers worldwide : ifbma : http://www.messengers.org/
po box 191443 san francisco ca 94119-1443 usa
==
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...