National Motorcycle Museum’s John Parham Estate Collection to Auction

We here at Motorcycle Classics, along with everyone else in the motorcycle community, were saddened a few months back at learning the news: The National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, will be closing its doors for good in early September.

While the museum has been a non-profit since its beginning in 1989, it has always been the home of many motorcycles from John and Jill Parham, founders of J&P Cycle.

What began with 40 bikes in an old storefront in downtown Anamosa grew to a larger, 500-plus motorcycle collection after the museum’s move in 2010 to a repurposed larger building near Highway 151. More space not only allowed for the acquisition and display of more motorcycles, but it also provided room for exhibits and loans from other collections. And while those cycles will be going back to their homes, many bikes from the Parham’s personal collection will go up for auction.

Mecum Auctions will be presenting the John Parham Estate Collection at the National Motorcycle Museum, Wednesday, Sept. 6, through Sunday, Sept. 9. The auction begins with the Road Art, some 1,000 lots encompassing more than 6,000 pieces in total. One standout piece of the Road Art collection is a life-size bronze sculpture by artist Jeffrey Decker. The piece depicts a 1937 Harley-Davidson EL being ridden by Joe Petrali. The piece was created especially for John Parham in 2002 to honor Petrali’s record-setting Daytona run.

Another famed piece of the Road Art collection will be a helmet owned and engraved over a period of some 30 years by artist Von Dutch. He began engraving the helmet in the early 1960s as a sort of history of his motorcycle ownership, and it was one of his most prized possessions.