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RE: vintage appraisals? - Curious

Author: Lelia
Date: 1999-07-12 17:35

I don't know this clarinet and have no idea what it's worth, but maybe this is the place to talk a little bit about appraisals in general. It's very difficult to get a non-biased appraisal without paying for it from a specialist in old instruments. If you live near a museum with an instrument collection, the curator might do appraisals, or might be able to tell you who in your area has a reputation for honest valuations.

Getting a price from a dealer (music store) on an instrument you're not actually offering for sale through that store is difficult, though some dealers do appraisals for a fee. Dealers will be happy to tell you what *they'll* give you, but most dealers get fed up with people coming in and asking for free information. That sounds kind of awful, and most of them won't come right out and say it, but you can understand from their point of view that time is money and they need to make a living. People want free advice all the time. Also, dealers know (generally from unfortunate experience...) that the customer might ask how much an instrument is worth "for insurance valuation," then try to sell the dealer the instrument for that amount, then go stomping off feeling cheated and badmouthing the dealer later, if the dealer won't fork over that much. It's an awkward situation for a retailer. Insurance value to *replace* a vintage instrument is *always* higher than what a dealer will pay. To make back the cost of handling (and, if necessary, restoring) an instrument, and to make a profit, a dealer will generally offer a customer half (or less, if the item needs a lot of work) the price for which s/he hopes to sell the piece. Even if you tell the dealer the instrument is not for sale now, s/he is still likely to avoid getting into iinsurance value and will just name the price s/he would be willing to pay, i.e. well below the retail value, just because s/he figures everything will be for sale eventually and s/he doesn't want the customer coming back later and arguing about getting full retail.

Bottom line, if anyone has a clarinet that might be truly rare and valuable: If you can get an indifferent appraisal from a reputable auction house such as Sotheby's or Christies, or from a museum employee, you're probably going to hear a higher amount than if you go to a retail dealer. (And I say that on the assumption that we're talking about honest dealers who would rather not play games with you -- They're just protecting themselves.)

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