Restoring Bikes Can Be a Balancing Act

Question: I have about a dozen fairly old bicycles. How do collectors view them regarding value?--H.F.

Answer: Collectors tend to look for original parts. Too many times, there is a temptation to replace parts, but when this is done, the value of a collectible bicycle invariably diminishes, according to individuals who collect old bikes.

This isn’t to say old bikes can’t be restored in an effort to rebuild what are, in effect, antiques on wheels. But if the original parts are there, it’s usually a good idea to leave them alone.

Modern-day bicycles appear to have roots in bikes developed in early 19th-Century Germany, France and Great Britain. But they didn’t catch on until the late 1870s, when the “high-wheeler” came into vogue; this is a bicycle with an enormous front wheel (to increase the distance one could travel with each revolution of the pedals) and a tiny rear wheel.

High-wheelers are enormously collectible and change hands for several thousand dollars each if they largely have their original parts. Some of these vehicles were quite heavy by today’s standards, being made of iron and weighing 60 pounds or more.

From this vehicle, it was a relatively short jump to the tricycle and other multiwheel contraptions, all highly collectible too.

By the turn of the century, much of the basic theory of the two-wheeler as we know it today had been incorporated into the bikes of that era. Much of the technology for these forerunners of today’s bicycle was developed in Great Britain by James Starley and William Sutton.

Q: I have a trunk with lots of brass on it that I believe is quite old. I think it’s been in our family for generations. Most of our roots are in the West; my grandparents migrated to California from Colorado. Just how old and valuable is this trunk?--C.T.

A: We can’t appraise by mail, of course. But it is a fact that large wooden trunks with hinges and locks made of brass were popular in the mid-19th Century.

Such trunks had to be rugged to take the relentless bouncing they took when transported on stagecoaches over bumpy roads.

These antique trunks were replaced in the last half of the 19th Century, when more sophisticated travel--such as the train--opened the West to settlers.

Q: I collect silverware. Should I keep an eye on the price of gold, as well as silver, in tracking the value of my collection?--S.H.

A: Absolutely. Historically, major fluctuations in the price of gold have impacted silver prices.

For example, in times of rampant inflation, many investors traditionally pull their cash out of so-called paper investments, such as stocks and bonds, and divert their savings into commodities, such as gold and silver.

Invariably, as the price of gold climbs, silver usually goes up too--and vice versa.

In “normal” economic times, however, when there aren’t wild fluctuations in inflation and interest rates, gold and silver may not rise and fall in tandem. Sometimes, gold is up slightly while silver declines marginally.

But when there’s a major movement in gold, silver has historically followed that movement.

Q: When was the cone-top beer can introduced? I have a few of them in my beer-can collection.--L.M.

A: Continental Can Co. introduced this collectible beer can in 1935, and Schlitz was the first brewery to use it.

The next major design change in beer cans didn’t come until 1962, when the aluminum pop-top can was introduced. It quickly caught on with most major breweries.