Greg;
I haven't seen any Confentes with three vent holes in the seat lug, he usually did four in a diamond pattern, as in this photo:
http://bhovey.com/
It's hard to see in the seller's picture since the spot where the fourth hole would be is obscured by the back of the seat tube, but there appears to be a discolored area there... maybe that's the edge of a fourth hole?
Also, while the tapered binder bolt ears may not be typical of the treatment seen on Mario's later Confente-badged frames, they are not at all unusual for his Carlsbad work... as you can see they appear nearly identical in the two photos above (BTW, the Spanish blue track bike in the first link is M5, one of the 'special build' frames that Mario built start to finish for friends and local racers).
Bob Hovey Columbus, GA
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 16:31:18 -0800 From: "CyclArt Shop" <shop@cyclart.com> To: "C R List" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: RE: [CR]re: ebay outing: confente Masi Message-ID: <NIBBIIPFEMAAOKOABEOLAEMADOAA.shop@cyclart.com> In-Reply-To: <6529021.1164943595851.JavaMail.root@mswamui-blood.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain;charset="UTF-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Precedence: list Reply-To: shop@cyclart.com Message: 5
List: We did indeed examine this bike, and it is in very good original condition. It has had very few miles put on it. As noted by seller, it has Weinmann concave clincher rims with Schwinn-branded tires that appear to be period-correct. It has the Confente "signature" three drilled holes in the seat lug as shown in the photo. It also has small holes drilled in the cable guide braze-ons that were not a standard Masi touch. These are what led us to believe it was, as he quoted, "definately [sic] MARIO CONFENTE built" with special attention for an owner.
The Roland Sahm connection sounds legit, but other than his word, we have no evidence of it. We highly recommended he try to document it before selling as such. Oh well....
On the other hand, there are some other curious details that we pointed out to the seller, and which he neglected to mention in his listing. The filing around the top front of the seat lug is not well done. The transition is pretty square, rather than the smooth radius one would expect. The seat binder tabs are also more tapered than Mario's usually are. Some of the lug points are also shorter and somewhat less finely shaped than a typical Confente.
These details don't necessarily disqualify it from being Confente-built, but it seemed obvious to us that other hands had worked on it also.
Greg Reiche
CyclArt
Vista, CA USA