Dear MMD's,  About the actual discussion about prices paid for mech-
anical music instruments, I am very surprised that apparently several
Mills Violano Virtuoso remained unsold in some recent auctions, for
example, no. 270 at Christie's Melbourne in Australia, in Oct. 1999.

The condition seemed good and the estimate reasonable : 40/50.000
Australian dollars, about 25/30.000 US $.

Was it overpriced ?  Are Mills Violano Virtuoso not any more
fashionable or desirable ?  What could be the explanation to the
difficulty of selling such impressive instruments ?

Best regards,

Philippe Rouille  (Paris, France)
http://www.cnam.fr/museum/musica_mecanica/