North Dakota friends auction motorcycles, tractors

Les Snavely, who was born in Roundup, died in 2020 at the age of 78. His friend Lynn Brackel died in March at the age of 80. Following the collectors’ deaths, the families have decided to part with the men’s extensive collections.

“Les was more of the eccentric and started collecting antique motorcycles, railroad and memorabilia,” according to VanDerBrink Auctions, which is in charge of the sale. “Lynn was the more practical collector and hunted down antique tractors and stationary gas engines.”

Snavely’s oldest of the 13 motorcycles up for auction dates back to 1901, a Yale Motorcycle-Magneto #109, according to the auction house.

One of the rarest in the collection is the 1912 Wagner Magneto motorcycle. Snavely has several other Wagners in his collection, all of which were built in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the time, the machines sold for $200 to $225 each — equal to about $6,400 today. In 1912, the average American construction worker earned only $1,700 a year.

The motorcycles of that era looked like today’s cruiser bicycles fitted with a small engine and gas tank. Top speed on the early motorcycles was about 35 to 40 mph.

Snavely’s collection also included antique motorcycle toys and literature, memorabilia like vintage leathers and antique hi-wheeler bicycles, including an 1877 version that belonged to the president of Dickenson State University.

“His passion for old motorcycle collecting started when he began searching for his grandfather Leslie Field’s motorcycle,” Snavely’s obituary noted. “He later found that machine. He amassed a personal library of books about books. He often traveled to the Smithsonian and Library of Congress to research steam powered motorcycles, the Milwaukee Road railroad, family history, and whatever new area of interest that had sparked his curiosity.”

Brackell’s passion for tractors and gas engines, on the other hand, led him to collect such antiques as a 1929 John Deere D with steel wheels. He also collected Case and McCormick-Deering tractors, including a 1927 model.