50/60s Italian prices compared to nicer British marques

Having just viewed a downright plain (& frankly tatty) Colnago sell for around $9000 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-19 ... 364wt_1157 though fairly rare frames/bikes why do they sell for so much higher than their british counterparts especially when the latter are often far more detailed in their lugwork and prettier.
I know there's the 'desireability' factor for Italian steeds but is the disparity over the British built bikes really that wide?

I think the prices reflect their relative worth at the time - Italian bikes were considerably more expensive that UK models, plus every town had a local producer. It's a bit like comparing the prices of 1950's Ferraris with British built cars - they often weren't faster / better engineered, but had a mystique about them.

The one bike you linked to is not a very fair test because this is one of the earliest know Colnagos in existance. Kind of like comparing the prototype of the aforementioned Ferrari to a production Rover.

That said, part of what you describe may be proximity since there would clearly be lots of Hetchins and Holdworths lying about in folk's sheds around the UK but not as much for the Italian marques. Another BIG factor in the price of Colnagos is that Asian buyers love Italian bicycles and they have been driving the price up lately.

BTW the rare handmade English bikes are very expensive here in the US, as an example look at the Claud Butler sold by this same seller:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-Ci ... 7675.l2557

Never seen the fascination with Colnago myself. Never wanted one nor will I ever get one, there seems to some sort of 'hero worship' of these machines, if one of these was given to me I'd be selling it for a classic British machine...

...pronto.