Mecum opened its 2015 classic vehicle auction calendar last week with the 24th annual Mecum MidAmerica Las Vegas sale, where 83-perfect of 590 motorcycles sold for $7,277,820.
“As it has consistently done for the past 23 years, the Mecum MidAmerica Las Vegas motorcycle auction again set the market tone for collectible motorcycles in 2015,” Ron Christenson, president of the Mecum MidAmerica motorcycle division, said in a news release.
“With collectors and enthusiasts from all 50 states and 19 countries in attendance, auction sales in Las Vegas serve as an accurate reflection of country-wide and even world-wide demand for these collector motorcycles.”
The high-dollar sale of the event was $132,500 for 1952 Vincent C Rapide.
A 1918 Henderson 4-cylinder sold for $87,500, a 1927 BMW R47 racer and a 1933 Matchless Silverhawk each brought $80,000. A total of nine bikes sold for $70,000 or more.
The auction featured several motorcycle collections.
“What we are seeing is the trend of sellers bringing their entire motorcycle collection to auction as a featured group,” Christenson said. “We had 17 separate motorcycle collections totaling 277 motorcycles offered for auction.
“There seems to be a special excitement among buyers when a collector offers all of their motorcycles at one auction, and sales reflect that enthusiasm.”
The ’52 Vincent C Rapide came from the Sinless Cycles LLC Collection and was sold in original condition with less than 10,000 miles on its odometer.
Mecum’s next sale is its largest of the year in terms of vehicles, with nearly 3,000 classic cars crossing the block at Kissimmee, Florida, starting January 16 and running through the 25th.
Mecum returns to Las Vegas for the E.J. Cole motorcycle collection sale March 20-21, where more than 200 vintage and antique bikes will be offered, many of them fro Harley-Davidson and Indian.