Photo: Morbidelli
Road and racing motorcycles spanning back in time to the beginning of the 20th century will be up for grabs this October, as part of the Bonhams' Autumn Stafford Sale. And they all belong to a single private collection.
The event marks the largest sale of a private motorcycle collection ever conducted by Bonhams. In all, nearly 300 bikes tracing their roots in every decade of the last century will go under the hammer.
The lot still belongs to the Morbidelli Motorcycle Museum, an organization set up racing enthusiast Giancarlo Morbidelli. It took the Italian entrepeneur over four decades to amass such an impressive army of bikes.
"He was a genius with bikes. He did everything by himself, working in a very small room. Forty years ago, he laid the foundation of this incredible museum, spending a lot of effort, time, energy and money," said in a statement Gianni Morbidelli, the collector's son.
"It's our family heritage, a part of our life, but we thought it would be appropriate to include in the sale two Morbidelli motorcycles that my father built."
Bonhams says the lot includes every motorcycle imaginable, from Harley Davidson to Honda and Benell. But the backbone of the list are the ones wiith a racing pedigree, such as the 1974 Morbidelli 125cc Grand Prix motorcycle, valued at £80,000 – 120,000 ($97,000 - $146,000).
The most expensive of the bunch is expected to be the 1940 250cc supercharged 4-cylinder Morbidelli bike. Bonhams expects to fetch up to £600,000 ($728,000) for it, making for one of the most expensive bikes in the world.
Alongside the complete and functional bikes, the auction also plans to sell several unfinished projects, as well as motorcycling memorabilia - drawings, trophies, signage and other artifacts.
The auction house did not release details on the estimated value of the entire collection. The sale takes place on October 18 in Stafford.
The lot still belongs to the Morbidelli Motorcycle Museum, an organization set up racing enthusiast Giancarlo Morbidelli. It took the Italian entrepeneur over four decades to amass such an impressive army of bikes.
"He was a genius with bikes. He did everything by himself, working in a very small room. Forty years ago, he laid the foundation of this incredible museum, spending a lot of effort, time, energy and money," said in a statement Gianni Morbidelli, the collector's son.
"It's our family heritage, a part of our life, but we thought it would be appropriate to include in the sale two Morbidelli motorcycles that my father built."
Bonhams says the lot includes every motorcycle imaginable, from Harley Davidson to Honda and Benell. But the backbone of the list are the ones wiith a racing pedigree, such as the 1974 Morbidelli 125cc Grand Prix motorcycle, valued at £80,000 – 120,000 ($97,000 - $146,000).
The most expensive of the bunch is expected to be the 1940 250cc supercharged 4-cylinder Morbidelli bike. Bonhams expects to fetch up to £600,000 ($728,000) for it, making for one of the most expensive bikes in the world.
Alongside the complete and functional bikes, the auction also plans to sell several unfinished projects, as well as motorcycling memorabilia - drawings, trophies, signage and other artifacts.
The auction house did not release details on the estimated value of the entire collection. The sale takes place on October 18 in Stafford.
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