One of the highlights of an interesting auction of cycles and cycling memorabilia taking place in London tomorrow comes from an Irish collection.
The Thomas Sparrow machine, pictured on the cover of the Phillips catalogue, has 38-inch front and 24-inch rear iron-tyred wooden wheels.
Dating from about 1870, the London-built velocipede bicycle ended up in the Republic. It is expected to sell for between £3,000 sterling (4,785) and £6,000. It is one of a single Irish collection of nine or 10 cycles.
Mr Nicholas Oddy, a consultant for cycles and cycle memorabilia at Phillips, told The Irish Times: "A significant number of machines in this sale have come from Ireland. One of the collections of machines has been assembled in Ireland - some of the more interesting machines in fact.
"Obviously there were a lot of wealthy landowners, very fashionable bourgeoisie in Dublin and that's the sort of person who bought bicycles in the 19th century. So it's not a surprise to find there are some very good 19th century machines in Ireland. They weren't particularly Irish makers - they were mainly imported from Britain."
Mr Oddy wasn't at liberty to divulge the name of the Republic-based collector but said there was "quite an enthusiastic contingent" of Irish collectors.
Old bicycles are to be found in many a shed, so how do you know if yours could be valuable? The most desirable are those of the Penny-Farthing period, from about 1870.
"High bicycles - large wheels with solid tyres - invariably mean a good machine of some sort. But once you get into the pneumatic period, from about 1892-1893 onwards, it becomes progressively more a specialist area."
Big black bicycles from about 1900 look very similar to ones from 1950.
"The 1900 one is highly saleable. The 1950 one is almost unsaleable. If it's a large 28-inched wheel roadster, which is the standard image of an old black bicycle, then there are very saleable ones amongst them but the chances are that the machines that most people will have are going to be in that £30 to £50 range."
However, don't let that put you off.
It is worth asking a specialist "because it might just be that you've got one which is in the £2,000 to £3,000 range instead". Whether it's worth only tens or as much as thousands of pounds depends on the maker. Most are black in colour and, if the transfers have worn off it, may take a specialist to determine values. Premium price makers include Rover, Lea Francis and Sunbeam.
"There is a very strong market for classic lightweight machines from the 1940s and 1950s. These were hand-built racing cycles. Again, it's a matter of knowing your machine. Ones with unusual looking frames such as a Curly Hetchins or a Paris Galibier are highly desirable, usually getting money in the £500 to £1,000 range."
But good quality lightweights with a standard frame pattern, despite being hand-built and having been very expensive in their day, often go for as little as £100 or £200.
The big money is definitely in the early solid tyres machines. "The first Penny-Farthing that we would recognise was 1870 designed by a man in France called Meyer.
"But the French industry was quickly overtaken by the English industry because of the Franco-Prussian war."
The classic period of the high bicycle is the early- to mid-1880s. Machines from that period are generally very desirable.
A decent unnamed machine from 1885 should fetch between £1,000 and £3,000, while a machine with a good name like Rudge in nice condition could go for up to £5,000.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
