I wonder what other subscriber's experiences are of the past year
or two as far as prices for mechanical musical instruments go?

I think it is worth making a comparison with the field of collecting
railway relics: locomotive, station and signal box nameplates, tickets,
etc.  This is a "first generation" collecting field where the prices at
specialist auction continue to rise.  This is dangerous, as those who
remember the steam locomotives on British railways, which were phased
out in August 1968, are a diminishing band.  I am in my 40's and can
just remember them.  I also worked on the steam railway in Peterborough
for 13 years so had a continuing interest.

It is certainly obvious that many people who are interested collectors,
paying 1,000's of pounds for items, are a diminishing band of people,
and few new collectors are coming along so the prices ultimately will
fall dramatically.

With mechanical music it is slightly different!  There are a few people
around with first-hand experience -- such as those who's Grandmother
had a musical box, player piano or who used to run a fairground ride
with an organ on it -- but most people new to the hobby in the last
10-15 years will only have encountered it as a hobby interest.

There are a diminishing number of old original instruments available
to purchase, as each year a few reach the point of no return or are
cannibalised to fix others.  I personally bought and dismantled an
Aeolian Orchestrelle 58-note player reed organ 10 years ago, as it was
in poor condition at the back due to wet, but the rest of the instru-
ment was fine and helped 10 other people to fix their own instruments
which all had different missing parts.

You would expect a diminishing number of original instruments to mean
that the price continues to rise, but this is not true any more.  The
Japanese were buying all kinds of expensive mechanical musical
instruments and most items sold at auction in London were going abroad
if the price was high.  The Japanese economy took a dive and the bottom
appeared to fall out of the UK market.  People who had paid GBP 9,000
for a large Polyphon Disc Musical box found the price dropped to almost
half.

They should not have been suprised, as this was a false short-term
inflation of the market which has now returned to a more sensible
level.  For example, many of you will know of the Gem Roller Organ,
a 20-note barrel-operated tabletop reed organ, pictured on the front
page of my Shire Album book.

One of these in un-restored condition fetched GBP 950 ($1,425) in
December 1993 at Christie's South Kensington, but today I have one
for sale at GBP 450 in good working order and I cannot find a buyer!

The market for _new_ instruments seems to be slightly different.

Comments welcome.

Kevin McElhone