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Bonhams Stafford Sale set a new world record price for a Brough Superior and for any British motorcycle sold at auction, as the gavel fell at an astounding £331,900 for the 1938 Brough Superior 750cc BS4.

The BS4 was the highlight lot in the collection ‘The Broughs of Bodmin Moor’, which sold 100% to achieve a collective £752,625. These iconic, rare British motorcycles were believed to have been destroyed, until Bonhams motorcycle department discovered the eight machines in 2015 in a remote Cornish village. The motorcycles were discovered whole, in parts, and some were partially submerged under decades of dust, old machinery parts and household clutter. Bonhams Stafford sale saw the bikes unveiled for the first time in more than 50 years.

Motorcycles of the 1920s and 1930s largely featured only one cylinder, so when the BS4 launched at the Olympia Motor Cycle Show in 1931, with its engine and gearbox taken from an Austin 7 motor car, it was truly revolutionary for the marque. Only ten BS4 models (aka Brough Superior ‘four cylinder’) were built, and only seven survive.

Ben Walker, International Director for Bonhams Collectors’ Motorcycle Department, said: “The Broughs of Bodmin Moor are the motorcycle discovery of the decade. They’ve caused quite a stir in the saleroom, with each one far exceeding estimate, allowing us to break our own world record for a British motorcycle sold at auction, the 1938 Brough Superior 750cc BS4 selling for £331,900 to a German bidder in the room.”

“Having been housed in a Cornwall barn for so many decades, we’re delighted to have brought these machines back into the spotlight,” said Jonathan Vickers, Bonhams West Country motoring specialist.

“They’ve sold phenomenally well, cementing Bonhams highly successful record breaking reputation in the collectors’ motoring industry.”

Malcolm Barber, Bonhams Co-Chairman and auctioneer, said: “The Bonhams team have held an auction at the Stafford International Motorcycle show for more than 28 years. The sale is an institution, and one that rightly attracts the attention of motorcycle enthusiasts from across the globe. With a packed saleroom and bids coming in internationally – including a determined bidder who flew in from the antipodes – and several world records achieved, such as for the 1956 Vincent 499cc Comet Series-C/D which sold for £55,200, as well as of course for Brough Superior, it’s been yet another incredible Stafford Sale.”

The Bonhams Sale featured the best of British motorcycles, with Vincent, Coventry Eagle, and of course the rarest of Brough Superiors leading more than 230 machines to achieve a total £3,454,501.

Further successes of the Sale include the 1939 Vincent-HRD 998cc Rapide Series-A Project, sold to a European bidder for £270,300; the 1929 Coventry-Eagle 980cc Flying-8 OHV, sold for £163,900, and the c.1959 Norton-JAP 998cc Sprinter ‘Thor’, sold for £61,990.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brough Superior (/ˈbrʌf/ bruf) motorcycles, sidecars, and motor cars were made by George Brough in his Brough Superior works on Haydn Road in Nottingham, England, from 1919 to 1940. The motorcycles were dubbed the “Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles” by H. D. Teague of The Motor Cycle newspaper. Approximately 3048 motorcycles (19 models) were made in the 21 years of production; around a third of that production still exists. T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia“) owned eight of these motorcycles and died from injuries sustained when he crashed number seven, the eighth was on order. George Bernard Shaw was another among many celebrities who were enthusiastic about Brough motorcycles.

Brough Superior Logo

Brough Superior SS 100 1925

Lawrence of Arabia on a Brough Superior he called George V. Lawrence owned eight Broughs:
1922: Boa (short for Boanerges)
1923: George I (£150 was more than the price of a house)
1924: George II
1925: George III
1926: George IV
1927: George V (RK 4907; see photo)
1929: George VI (UL 656)
1932: George VII (GW 2275) (the bike he died riding)
Undelivered: George VIII (still being built when Lawrence was killed).[1]

T. E. Lawrence’s eighth Brough Superior, the one he was riding when he was killed, at the Imperial War Museum.[2]

Brough Superior (/ˈbrʌf/ bruf) motorcycles, sidecars, and motor cars were made by George Brough in his Brough Superior works on Haydn Road in Nottingham, England, from 1919 to 1940. The motorcycles were dubbed the “Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles” by H. D. Teague of The Motor Cycle newspaper. Approximately 3048 motorcycles (19 models) were made in the 21 years of production; around a third of that production still exists. T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia“) owned eight of these motorcycles and died from injuries sustained when he crashed number seven, the eighth was on order. George Bernard Shaw was another among many celebrities who were enthusiastic about Brough motorcycles.

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