Hi All,

My original posting about the auction sale of the Seeburg Model L was
primarily to show an example of declining prices for certain automatic
musical instruments.  The gist of what I was saying is that declining
prices is not a good sign for any of us.  It just shows that there is
less interest in this stuff then there used to be!

If you bought an antique mechanical instrument and put painstaking work
into its preservation, as a fun and gratifying project, and then later
when you had to sell it, discovered that there was no market for it
(because now all of this type of stuff is selling for less then you
paid), you would say to yourself: Why did I ever do this???

In the thirty-five years I have been rebuilding, brokering, collecting,
and selling all types of MMI's my feelings have been that this stuff is
not just a hobby, but my life!  My long-time philosophy of this field is
that it is like real estate and should increase in value instead of
decreasing over time.

I don't know why I'm defending this position.  You should all realize
what I'm saying because it affects all of us!  Here is a little sample:
I have a Duo-Art book from the mid-80's about restoring the Duo-Art
grand piano.  It states, based on research, that to built this piano
and player brand-new from scratch would run $75,000.00 minimum.  So if
you want to collect something that's rare and being sold for practically
nothing these days, here's your chance!

A nickelodeon, band organ, or orchestrion would cost a lot more than
that to build today, because of their extra features.  That's why they
are so much more valuable!

Kim Bunker
http://www.playerpianos.com