England seems to be a different animal, when it comes to C and V collecting. The local framebuilders seem to be a bit under appreciated, and almost nobody will offer shipping on Ebay UK. Consequently, fantastic old bikes go for fantastic bargains. Because very few will ship (even within England) and costs would be exorbitant if they did, this doesn't help US buyers out at all. Spend some time browsing Ebay UK, and you'll see what I mean.

Hilary performs the simple function of somehow acquiring these bikes, and, by breaking them up, offers them at a fair price to International buyers. As much as I hate to see bikes broken up, he really is performing a service, at least to a certain degree. You may have to wait a while for delivery and, as noted above, his condition estimates are optimistic but, if you're looking for an obscure frameset or parts, he may be your best (only?) shot.

Personally, I get annoyed by locals who break up bikes, swap out quality parts for cheap colorful ss/fg gear, and powdercoat them. My local CL has seen a 3rensho road bike and a Cinelli broken up and *******ized in the last two weeks.

Oh well, this is the world that we live in. Demand drives the market. Let's just hope that we're not heading for a C & V recession!