Recession? What recession?

Finally back to normal after Stafford - a sincere thank-you to everyone who came and said hello, especially if they spent money. Generally traders seemed to be accepting they'd take less money than usual, what with all the doom and gloom. So when I saw the Bonham's catalogue was rammed with some of the highest quality entries I've seen in years, my instinct was that this was people liquidating in tough times. After all, there's been talk of 20,000 kids being pulled out of fee-paying schools, and those sort of sacrifices usually come long after the bevel-twins gone to a new home.

And then I saw Bonham's auction results - clearly there's still life in the market, and dealers watched pale-faced as private buyers bid prices no sane trader dare pay. Over £10k looked toppy for a tatty early Hailwood Rep, ditto over £4k for a similarly unloved Darmah. The Italian lightweights looked good value, perhaps reflecting the partial demise and tribulations of the Motogiro. But £12,000 for a Kawasaki Mach1/MarkIII? £24,000 for a Triumph Hurricane? Ber-limey. The headline grabber was (of course) a Brough SS100 at over £200,000 - and in case you haven't seen them there are some fab period pix of an SS100 on holiday in 1954 here