Seventeen of our motorcycles were taken to the Mecum and Bonhams auctions held in Las Vegas in January 2020.
The Bonhams auction turned out to be a failure for us and virtually everyone else who had motorcycles there. We estimate that only about 10% of the items going across the block were sold and maybe 50% didn’t even get a bid.
Although the auction was held in a new and very nice venue … Caesar’s Entertainment Pavilion … the auction was a flop most probably because Malcolm the infamous Bonhams motorcycle auctioneer had a prior commitment in Europe and his substitute auctioneer was very low energy. As a result, both of our Bonhams motorcycles … the 1983 Triumph TSS (last Triumph produced at Meriden) and our 1938 Triumph Speed Twin came home with us.
Mecum was different story … we sold 11 of the 15 Triumphs we entered in the auction. We probably would have sold two others … the 1962 Triumph T120 Bonneville and 1961 Triumph TR5AC except the carrier damaged them on the trip from AZ to Las Vegas so they were pulled out of the auction.
When another of our Triumphs …our 1912 Free Engine … hit the block, it flew past our reserve and was set to be hammered down at $17,500. Then one of the auctioneers discovered that one of the bidders was not registered. At that point, chaos ensued … the auctioneer took the bid back to $13,000 which was below our reserve. No explanation was provided to the audience about the problem so they were left as confused as we were. As a result there was no sale and the bike went to the corral. Fortunately for us, a collector family from San Diego negotiated a deal with us to put our bike in their collection. The agreed to sales price was $14,000 and they will take delivery of the bike in March.
Here is a list of our sales at Mecum. Prices include the 10% buyer’s premium …
1927 Model W $13,750
1934 Model XO $13,200
1956 T110 $20,900
1961 T120C $27,500
1964 T120C $20,900
1966 T120C $25,300
1967 T100R $14,300
1967 T120R $19,800
1967 TR6C $17,600
1971 T120R $12,100
1977 T140J Silver Jubilee $16,500
Three of our bikes made it on to the NBCSN telecast this year … the 1956 T110, the 1961 T120C and the 1964 T120C.
The damage to the 1962 Bonneville and 1961 TR5AC is minor and will be involve some repainting that Dave Wedlake will accomplish over the summer in Portland. Both bikes will be back to 100% for the Mecum Las Vegas auction in January 2021 when we plan to take them and another six motorcycles to Las Vegas.
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