With regards to the discussion thread Kevin McElhone started, I think
the market is indeed alive and kicking, albeit we need to look at it
from a slightly different perspective from days gone by.

With the advent of the Internet, instruments have been far easier for a
collector to source a good average instrument, so no longer does supply
outstrip the demand.

The Internet has also taught us much: [compared to] what we once read
from the textbooks on the subject, the 'rare' is actually quite common.
For example, the 11-7/8-inch Symphonion Rococo cased box, described by
one eminent notary on the subject as rare, is indeed quite common --
almost every other week one turns up on eBay.

There was a time when a Nicole Freres key wound box was described as
the 'Rolls Royce' of cylinder boxes, and rightly so, yet these too have
survived in far higher numbers than any of us ever imagined.

It's little wonder that prices are down, but people still readily buy
every single one offered at auction.  People still want them; to me,
that's a good market!

You want discs?  There was a time, say, back in the 1980s, when a rare
disc machine was held back by it's rarity, for no other reason than lack
of music.  Not so now.  A good rare disc player can command a healthy
price.  Why?  Because those discs can be, and are, found on eBay.

From my own experience as an active collector, if something slightly
unusual, rare, or of quality turns up at a sale, then it _always_
commands a good price, often a most excellent price.

It's not a case of money being no object -- it's always an object, and
even a consideration for the mega-wealthy.  What it actually _is_ is
the proof of the pudding, that the market is there.

Perhaps there is an argument that those who perpetuate the doom and
gloom are repressing the market.  Who is going to sell their
collections when they think they will take a hit, who will buy when
they think they are potentially backing a donkey?

So let's have a little more positive mental attitude and, as Alison
Biden pointed out, buy them because you love them.  Every last one of
us who read MMDigest know what pleasure we get from this vintage
technology, and if prices are down, Bonus!  We don't complain at the
supermarket, we buy!

So, come on, Kevin, you have a customer here -- I'm looking for early
four-air cylinder boxes, with exposed controls.

Mark Singleton