History under the hammer as National Motorcycle Museum Collection sells

From board trackers to streamliners, and everything in between … and enough historic memorabilia for 100 man caves. That’s a Diamond Anniversary replica of the first Harley (a single). View gallery – 41 images
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By Mike Hanlon
2023 Sep 15

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The sale of the John Parham Motorcycle Collection this week didn’t receive much coverage in the motorcycle media, but when a museum collection goes to auction there are always historically significant artifacts on offer, and in this case the sheer volume of high quality lots combined with a non-mainstream location meant that some serious bargains were had.

Parham was the driving force behind the National Motorcycle Museum in Iowa. Following his death, his 300-plus motorcycle collection which formed the core of the museum display, was sold off by Mecum Auctions “in situ” and it contained so many of history’s most important motorcycles that it offered something for everyone, regardless of their two-wheeled interests.

From board trackers to dirt trackers to road racers to plain old transportation, the depth and breadth of the Parham Collection was vast, and it also contained significant machines from the bicycle and aviation industries which ran in close parallel to the motorcycle industry for several decades.

From an historic perspective, several of the motorcycles sold were unicorn rare, so this sale might one day be seen as one of the history’s most significant motorcycle auctions, along with the original Steve McQueen Estate Auction in 1984, the Otis Chandler Estate Auction in 2006 and the EJ Cole Collection Auction in 2015.

V-twin Heaven

An eccentric firing order is as American as apple pie, rock ‘n’ roll and blue jeans. Throughout the last century, America embraced both the v-twin for its motorcycles and the V8 for its automobiles, and this auction had the finest examples of almost every significant v-twin in history, with specimens of every major American v-twin except for a Cyclone, and in most cases it offered multiple examples of the finest models. Indian made its first V-twin in 1905, Flying Merkel in 1908 and Harley-Davidson made its first V-twin engine in 1909, but the grandaddy of them all was included in this sale, made by one of the foremost engineering prodigies of the modern era. That’s the Curtiss V-twin at top right above.

While the Curtiss is one of the most important motorcycles in the country, the 1150cc Sears Dreadnaught at top left in the above image is also an extremely rare model that just 22 years ago was the most valuable motorcycle that had ever been sold at auction.

On 15 September 2001, Sotheby’s Motorcycles and Bicycles Auction in Chicago sold an exceptional unrestored 1914 Sears Dreadnaught Nine for $126,750, the same day it sold Bruno Spaggiari’s Ducati 750SS race bike (the bike that finished second in the legendary 1972 Imola 200 Ducati 1-2) for $121,250. They were the first two motorcycles to sell for more than $100,000 at auction.

A near perfect specimen of that same motorcycle, a mail order motorcycle sold exclusively from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue, sold for $110,000 at this sale but it still hasn’t matched that 2001 price of what was once the most valuable motorcycle in history, and there is no longer a Sears Dreadnaught in the top 100 motorcycles ever sold at auction.

Where possible, we’ve included both the link to the Mecum auction page and the relevant page on the museum web site, which is expected to only be available for a limited time. We’ve also limited the coverage to the most significant lots, and there are many more results that motorcycle collectors will find important and meaningful.

1927 Brough Superior SS100 Pendine Replica

Final price (inc Buyers Premium): $220,000
Estimate: $250,000 – $300,000
Auction Date: Saturday 9 September 2023
National Motorcycle Museum Link
Auction Page Link
Brough Superior is arguably the finest motorcycle marque to have ever existed, and the Pendine is the fastest, rarest and most desirable of all Brough Superior models. The Brough Superior SS100 model was the fastest production motorcycle in the world during the “Roaring Twenties”, and with a catchy name and unsurpassed quality, the marque became an icon for excellence during a period of massive technological progress (cars, telephones, films, radio, recorded music and electrical appliances). The SS100 was guaranteed to have been tested and timed at over 100mph, while the Pendine was the racing version of the SS100, with each machine guaranteed to have been tested at over 110 mph.

Now Pendines are beyond rare. They almost never appear at auction because they are closely held by people who love the marque and don’t care what they’re worth because they’re gonna die with them, and less than ten are still thought to exist. So this bike is a genuine Brough Superior SS100, built to replicate a Pendine, and with this sale it actually surpassed the price record for a Pendine at auction. Actually, the last time a complete Pendine came to auction was at least two decades ago because we can’t find one. The last Pendine, of sorts, to sell at auction was a 1927 Brough Superior 981cc SS100 Pendine that was built from a genuine Pendine engine with the remainder of the bike assembled from a mixture of parts, including a replacement frame. It sold for £166,750 ($219,312) at Bonhams’ 2018 Autumn Stafford Sale (our report here), so this bike claims some sort of record because it too is just a replica, but … an exquisite replica.

1906 Curtiss Twin – the very first American V-twin

Final price (inc Buyers Premium): $214,500
Estimate: $100,000 – $120,000
Auction Date: Saturday 9 September 2023
National Motorcycle Museum Link
Auction Page Link

Glenn H Curtiss was one of the great aviation pioneers, partnering with the Wright Brothers to become one of the Captains of American industry, but he got his start building motorcycles, and the 1000cc Hercules was his first commercial success. Curtiss’ first evident superpower (of many) was his ability to manufacture engines that were both powerful and reliable, and after building his first motorcycle in 1899 using a single cylinder Auto-Bi engine, he built his first 500cc single cylinder engine in 1901 and his first V-twin 1000cc in 1903, using it to set several land speed records, and going on to set a world land speed record (for any form of vehicle) at 136.27 mph on a V8-engined motorcycle of his own construction in 1906. It was the only time that a motorcycle has ever held the outright land speed record.

To See the complete, fantastic, article… Click here to reach the New Atlas website!

https://newatlas.com/motorcycles/history-under-the-hammer-as-national-motorcycle-museum-collection-sells/
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Gallery – 41 images