Auction house HJ Pugh (est. 1990) will hold its largest off-road motorcycle sale to date at its Ledbury, Herefordshire, salerooms on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 September. The total number of lots is projected to exceed 1100, with at least 300 motorcycles, as well as 750 projects and parts lots, expected.
Former dealer and 500 MX champion, Dave Curtis wears his 1954 MX des Nations team jersey at the 2016 Brackley FestivalAnchoring the event is the mainly scrambles bike collection built up by former dealer and 1958 British 500 motocross champion Dave Curtis, winner of the 1961 British MX GP at Hawkstone, Shropshire. A Matchless works rider from 1954 to 1962, Curtis ran Dave Curtis Motorcycles in Bicester, Oxfordshire, in the 1950s and 1960s. He rode his first scramble in 1950. In 1954, he was a team member of the victorious Motocross des Nations British squad and the fifth-best rider overall.
His total collection of nearly 50 machines and 100-plus lots of engines, gearboxes and parts are the main attraction for the two-day auction, which is anticipated to bring 250 motorcycles of all types plus spares and project machines to the rostrum.
The Curtis Collection features some rare scramblers and road versions, many of which were sent by British factories to the then all-important American market. As well as his favoured Matchless and AJS models, they include Royal Enfield, Velocette, Greeves and Norton machines. Age and failing health have prompted the sale. Curtis will be 94 in October. Some of the machines are made up tribute versions of past glories and heroes, including motocross aces Brian Stonebridge and Geoff Ward.
HJ Pugh partner Henry Biss secured the collection and arranged transport from the Curtis home in Bicester, Oxfordshire, to Ledbury.
“This is the biggest collection of scrambles bikes we have ever had,” he said. “Eighteen are Matchless and six AJS. Other marques include BSA, Greeves, Norton, Royal Enfield, Yamaha, Ossa, and Triumph. The most valuable is probably a Norton P11 750 twin.”
Many of the machines were sourced and repatriated from America, Curtis having a taste for unusual and rarer models, such as a 350 Velocette Metisse framed model.
This sale is another coup for HJ Pugh’s Henry Biss, who last year secured the sale of the world’s biggest collection of speedway and grass track machines. More than 100 examples from the Ian Paterson Collection of Loanhead, Edinburgh, were offered.
HJ Pugh
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