nick zatezalo wrote:
>
> Is this in fact a Mario made GC?
>
> If so...how can one tell conclusively?
>
> http://ebay.com/
>From the auction:
"The M56 is stamped a bit above the top of the 'M'. I found in my
research that the very early frames were stamped this way with the M
indicating Milano as place of origin and the 56 indicating the frame
size."
and
"Inside the steering forks under the tube, there is a 3-inch elongated
raised triangle with a spade-shaped cut-out similar to those on the ends
of the other tubes. I understand that this spade or rounded triangle is
the logo associated with Confente while he was still making frames in Italy."
Mario Confente lived in Verona and his shop (part of his parents home) was there. There are Italian Masi that are stamped "V" and the frame size in centimeters, such as "V 55.5" and the assumption is that the V stands for Verona, therefore a Mario built Masi would not have a "M" stamped on the bottom bracket.
Also, there are no spades cut out of any part of a Masi that I have ever seen. And no, a "rounded triangle" is not a spade.
In my opinion, not built by Mario Confente, if that makes any difference. And also in my opinion, Mario Confente would probably not have been regarded as the best framebuilder in Italy and maybe not even the best among the builders that Faliero Masi contracted to build frames for Masi.
Anyone else with opinions?
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
.