I got an email this morning from someone trying to find out the worth of a vintage unicycle (from the 1920s or 1930s). Does anyone know who can help him?
Thanks,
Wendy Grzych
USA President
Your the president of the USA? Sorry I can’t help, never heard of a vintage unicycle.
This would be the place to get help Wendy.
Pictures and any other information (markings on the frame, under the seat, on the axle) will be helpfull.
Wendy, speaking only as a watcher of Antiques Roadshow I would venture to guess that there is not much of a market for vintage unicycles and so unless there is something very special about this one, e.g. its original owner was famous, the value is not great.
That said, you might put this person in touch with someone like David Metz who runs the Metz Bicycle Museum. Or possibly the The Wheelmen which is an organization devoted to antique bicycles.
They might also have some luck tracking down antiques dealers who specialize in bicycles. Such shops would likely encounter unicycles now and again.
I’ll just back up the earlier request for information. We can’t see it, we don’t know anything about it, and they want to know it’s value?
Along with that, what makes them arrive at their estimated age for the cycle? People on eBay (as well as so-called antique dealers) are overrepresenting the age of their stuff all the time.
I know Al Hemminger and Paul Fox both had these old aluminum unicycles, which they believed were from the 1940s. Those are the earliest “manufactured” unicycles I’ve seen, though even they were probably handmade. Anything earlier than the 1940s is probably custom.
I’ve seen a few older unicycles on Ebay, without very impressive results. Typical circumstance: The unicyle is posted, has no maker’s name or date on it, is not a lot different from other older (1960’s or so) common unicycles, doesn’t attract much attention or money.
On Youtube, there is a series of instructional videos, and the guy or people that do those have some sort of unicycle museum with some pretty odd stuff- you might try to get in touch wit them if it’s anything really different.