The world’s most expensive Italian motorcycle ever sold was hammered down at the International Classic MotorCycle Show for £967,000.
The ex-Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini MV Agusta 500cc Grand Prix bike beat a pre-sale estimate of £160,000-£220,000.
Previously part of the John Surtees collection, the 195 MV Agusta set a new record for an Italian motorcycle selling at auction and only just behind the outright record.
The Bonhams auction also saw an ex-Barry Sheene 1977 Suzuki RG500 XR14 bike that helped him win the World Championship sell for £506,000 against an estimate of £160,000-£200,000.
Other strong sellers were a 2015 Honda RX213V-S that sold for £186,300, an ex-Peter Hickman 2019 Smiths Racing BMW S1000RR used for the Isle of Man TT that fetched £88,550, and a replica of the 1885 Daimler Reitwagen that sold for £48,300.
Bonhams’ Stafford Sale saw a total value of £4.208m of motorcycles sold against a low estimate of £2.208m with 100% of lots sold on Day 1 of the two-day sale, and 96% on the second day.
Ben Walker, International Department Director of Bonhams Collectors’ Motorcycles, said: ‘This was a landmark event in the bike community, that will be remembered by those who attended for years to come. We established two new world records, for the price of an Italian and Japanese machine sold at auction and got very close to the outright world record for the auction sale price of a motorcycle.
‘To have presented several major private collections alongside further significant entries, created a genuine opportunity across every level of the market – the sale had a motorcycle for every bike aficionado.’
Images courtesy of Bonhams
