Hi folks,  I have been quietly lurking (not my style at all) for some
time.  However, the comments about eBay auction brought both a chuckle
and a bit of consternation.

One of the things that has not been mentioned is the vast number of
contacts that are possible for your $2.00 listing, whether or not the
item is sold.  There are many people who watch the auctions and seldom
bid, but then contact the seller after the auction, or better yet,
contact the seller to see what else they have for sale.  Where else can
you get that kind of exposure for so little?

Another thing about eBay is that it levels the playing field.  The
seller in Idaho has the same opportunity that the New York City dealer
has -- providing they are both skilled in titling and describing their
item.  And believe me, it is possible to find some incredibly fine mus-
ical items.  I'm the person who bought the 1834 Ducommon Girod Overture
cylinder music box with 242 teeth in 13".  For all you techies, do the
math on that one.

 [ 7.33 teeth per centimeter -- tiny !    -- Robbie

Of all my slitting discs and jewelers saw blades, I did not have
anything fine enough to clean between the teeth -- so I of course used
dental floss!  The music box plays one single Rossini overture on three
revolutions.  It is one of the rarest of the rare.  And the reserve was
$700.  Needless to say, it didn't sell for that and every single bidder
on this box knew each other.  The secret to eBay is to know what you
are looking at, and what questions to ask.

The third thing that eBay is doing for all of us is to bring the
unusual out of the attic.  I have purchased several musical toys that
were not known among the (small) group of collectors, and eBay is a
field day for collectors of organ grinder accessories and decorative
items.

And there is one more: eBay is forcing the antique dealers who know
absolutely nothing about musical boxes to either learn more about their
musical box or get more realistic about their pricing, which I believe
is good for all of us.

The comment that started all of this discussion was about a barrel
operated band organ.  There are but a few collectors anywhere that are
likely to have enough historical knowledge to be able to value this
item, because of its extremely limited repertoire.  On a monkey organ,
this may not be such a big problem, because another monkey organ with
more music doesn't take up the whole end of the music room.  It isn't
really too surprising that the barrel band organ didn't sell (or did
anyone check to see if it sold after the auction, thereby saving the
seller the commission?)

Since I see many of your eBay "handles" regularly as I am cruising
eBay, apparently many of us don't think eBay is "too common" for the
short time it takes us to do our various searches!

Beatrice Robertson