G519 in a Box (No , I'm not that lucky...)

[Mercian]

Hi All,

doing some research on the WW1 Great Western Military Model, I came across this article on "Hindsight is 20-20 - The best time to buy a relic is when you see it! " by Harold Ratzburg, about Military items he'd regretted not buying, or regretted selling.

https://www.militarytrader.com/military-trader/hindsight-is-20-20

One of the items was this:

Military Bicycles in the Crate

At a rally at Sarafan’s Surplus one year, a man showed up with GI Columbia bicycles in wooden crates. He offered them for sale for $80 each. Each bike had the Army serial number stamped on the frame. I bought one, uncrated it, and hung it from the garage ceiling. I sold about fifteen years later for $200. Today, those same bikes can fetch upwards of $2,000.

Did anyone else ever see a G519 in a crate?

Best Regards,

Adrian

PS, I feel for him over the one piece jeep wheels he mentions. I had to find a set of exactly the same early type, it took me five years, one at a time!

 

[ChadC]

Same goes for the Jeep and WLA in a crate....coulda, shoulda, woulda...

 

[DaGasMan]

I had been to Sarafan’s up in Spring Valley many times in my youth with my dad. I was there when David Sarafan opened the shipping container with some of the Harley WLAs he had acquired in Africa. Many were complete and definitely original. Smart money men carefully chose their favorite bike and rolled them out. My dad felt that the $10K asking price was too much. I remember a lot of rare and uncommon military items trading hands back then, but I can’t recall “bikes in a box” for $80. My Pop would have picked one up for sure. Lol That was his price range.
Those were good times.

 

[Ernie Baals]

My dad bought me one of those Columbias in 1979. i Still have it.
The gentleman's name was Doug. the one we got, was part of a group of them stacked on a skid. All original OD paint. and missing one pedal and the handle bars turned sideways so they would stack flat. Mine was $40.

 

[HUFFMANBILL]

Ernie,
Those were the days!

 

[DaGasMan]

My dad bought me one of those Columbias in 1979. i Still have it.
The gentleman's name was Doug. the one we got, was part of a group of them stacked on a skid. All original OD paint. and missing one pedal and the handle bars turned sideways so they would stack flat. Mine was $40.

So the legend is true! That’s amazing. But Sarafans really was an amazing time and place after all.
I’ll have to ask around if any of the old timers have any photos.