Some interesting points have been made by contributors.  Julian Dyer
speaks words of wisdom and makes a good case for the auctioneers'
charges.  I have heard that too, that they don't make much, if anything,
on collectors' sales, which is probably why Sotheby's and Christie's
pulled out of these fields a few years ago.

We listened to the sale via the Internet and relayed it round the
museum.  I must say that Max the Auctioneer was enormous fun to listen
to!  He managed a light touch whilst coaxing ever higher prices from
his bidders.  A great entertainer and fluent in several European
languages.

As a museum director, I would never sanction the purchase of any
instrument that has had a MIDI interface attached to it.  We don't want
the public leaving the museum thinking that a 1920 Mortier dance organ
was always operated from a laptop computer from the far side of the
room.

I was amazed that the Hofbauer street organ with the digital cassettes
made so much.  We serviced one for a client last year, and it seems the
only way one can tune it is by humbly asking Hofbauer if one can borrow
a tuning cassette.  This our client did, and they supplied it provided
he sent it straight back after it was finished with.  Probably it was
the only one Hofbauer had.  It was certainly a bit of a bird's nest in
the wiring department.  I doubt if even that will be an option in five
or ten years' time.

We were recently asked to look at another of these Hofbauer machines
a few weeks ago.  It has damaged wiring and one of the cable forms has
been cut off.  It appears that the manufacturers are not prepared to
help in any way, and the technology has been obsolete for some years
now.  If it had been paper roll operated we could have helped!

David Evans - Revelstoke Nickelodeon Museum