Hammer falls on half-million-dollar auction

The bids were flying at Donington Auction’s recent ‘Classic and Vintage Motorcycle Auction’, with some original and unrestored ‘barn find’ British gems garnering much of the interest and helping to push the total combined sale price to $525,640.

The classic automotive auction house described the auction, which was based in Melbourne and which featured the collections of the late Cameron MacMahon and Jack Craig, as its “most successful to date”, with 450 bidders placing bids on each of the 267 lots offered.

Standout performers included two original Vincent motorcycles from the MacMahon collection, with a 1949 Vincent Series C Rapide fetching $62,000 and a 1954 Vincent Series C Comet achieving $23,750.

Meanwhile, late sidecar racer Jack Craig’s Vincent Series A Black Shadow, believed to have once been owned by Ken Horner of Irving Vincent fame, sold for $10,800, while Craig’s Manx Norton 350 race sidecar went for $15,400.

An original 1975 Norton Commando 850 MkIII in rare John Player livery went for $31,000, while topping the lots for individual sums was a meticulously restored 1974 Ducati 750 Sport, which fetched $70,500.

A total of 6627 bids were placed during the auction.

“With 100 per cent of the lots attracting bids and 98.1 per cent of those lots sold, the auction can be considered a great success,” Donington Auctions’ Cameron Sabine said.

“There were almost 350,000 online views of the auction, which demonstrates the continued interest in classic and collectable motorcycles, and the outstanding results achieved at the auction reinforces the market’s ongoing appreciation of quality.”