A large number of the people posting on this topic seem to see
"interested in" and "collecting" as being the same thing.  In COAA
we have a good many "collectors," but at the same time, many of the
most active members are not collectors of instruments but are music
_players_ and gatherers of music.

My wife and I have two 20er crank organs: "his and hers."  We have
a few music box toys, but they are not something we collect with any
passion.  Dave Wasson has "Trudy", his concert fair organ, and a crank
organ to take to crank-organ-only rallies.  COAA President Ted Guilliam
has, as far as I know, only a 20er Raffin.  I would guesstimate that
most of the organs at COAA rallies are not "collectibles," but are
instruments less than ten or twenty years old, and many are home-built.

Our biggest summer organ-playing rallies draw twice as many registrants
than our mid-winter Florida collection-visiting meeting.

I would also suggest that the notion that most people have no
knowledge of mechanical music is naive at best.  They know the sound
of a carousel, even if only from recordings, and millions are currently
being entertained by virtual mechanical instruments on TV.  That
exposure is musical, not historical or about collecting.

Both amateur and professionals make great use of the modern version of
mechanical music, MIDI.  Many churches have MIDI systems on pipe
organs, and I'd guess you can walk into a music store and buy a MIDI
piano off the floor in most towns.

Yes, collecting has a place, but it is only one part of the picture,
and perhaps only a small part of the big picture.

Wallace Venable