George Brough on one of the bikes which made him a household name

Brough Superior is the most prominent marque in the top 100 with 24 motorcycles, and Vincent is second with 14 motorcycles, though a further 11 Vincents occupy the list between #101-125. As the list expands over time, we expect the most popular marque will become hotly contested between the two brands, mainly because there are more Vincents than Brough Superiors.

No one marque dominates the list as is the case with the top 100 auction car list, where more than half the top 100 most valuable cars ever to sell at auction are from one marque – Ferrari.

Illustrious British names that might have been expected to be on this list such as BSA, Douglas, Matchless, Norton, Royal Enfield, Triumph and Velocette have not appeared. Beyond those names, the nearest another British marque gets to the top 100 is a manx Norton race bike.

The Rollie Free Vincent recently sold for US$1,000,000 privately, making it the most expensive motorcycle ever sold.

Beyond the 24 Brough Superiors and 14 Vincents, the top contains just one bike each from Ariel, Coventry-Eagle, McEvoy, Montgomery-Anzani, Zenith-JAP, Scott, AJS and we’ve attributed the sole Ferrari on the list to the U.K. because it’s not really an Italian Ferrari, but a British-designed and British-built tribute bike to the Ferrari brand.