The recent sale of the Caminargent has elements of the ancient Japanese tale "Roshomon" in which the same story told by several people seems like several completely different stories. Dealers are often disturbed when an article sold at auction eclipses the amount for which they have sold similar items. A frequent dealer response to this is the old carpet dealer's ploy, "if it's mine it's a Kazak (a very expensive carpet), but when it's yours it's Kurdish (a cheap rug)." In the bike collecting hobby this same tack often takes the form of attacking the bike's "correctness" and "patina." For all anyone can see this Caminade is a very early great cycle-whether or not certain parts were Caminade or whether they were "options" is of little consequence as the amount of interest among other experienced collectors and the final price clearly demonstrated. As for "patina" I've found that this is evidence of wear when described by the bike's seller. It becomes damage or rust, etc. when seen by the another collector or dealer. In short, when ready for show this bike is sure to be a "killer." George
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA