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Re: Old or new? Violinists (and clarinetists?) can't tell

Author: Tom Ridenour
Date: 2014-04-15 23:47

The comparison between works of art as in paintings and sculptures vs musical instruments (in regards to valuations) is not without merit but theirs one very important difference.........you can't conduct a blind test when valuing a painting or sculpture, at least not in the same way you can with musical instruments.

If someone looks at a Picasso and decides to pay 100+ million dollars for it, as absurd as you or I may think that valuation is at the end of the day it's the buyers (the end user if you will) valuation of the objects worth. Someone can tell him all day long how such a painting could be reproduced with ease by a great number of individuals but he thinks it's worth that, it will be hanging on his wall, and theirs little to nothing one can do to discredit what he believes it to be worth.

If someone tells you that one musical instrument is worth X and the other is worth Y, but then judges Y to be superior in a blind test....how valuable are their valuations at that point?

I realize that one could conduct a form of a blind test with a painting by seeing if someone could tell the difference between the original painting and a well done duplicate but

A. This would only serve to further discredit valuations of ultra luxury or status goods.

B. I would argue that the very nature of a musical instrument is distinct from a work of art. The work of arts end purposes is to hang on a wall or sit in a room and impress people. As opposed to a musical instruments end purpose which is to create art/music. The value is not in the object itself but what the object in the right hands, can potentially produce and the reaction audiences (who typically have no clue and don't care what model or make of instrument their listening to) have when they hear the sound it produces. A painting is art....a clarinet is for making art.

The law of supply and demand, to my mind, comes into play far more in regards to the music high end musicians are capable of producing. If their is an endless supply of clarinet players with the skills of a Morales or Frost than the amount people are willing to pay for their time will obviously go down hill........just like if theirs only a few elite clarinet players and people are clamoring to hear them perform live, the elite clarinet players could charge a far higher rate for their time.

Ted Ridenour

Ridenour Clarinet Products,
rclarinetproducts.com
sales@ridenourclarinetproducts.com

Post Edited (2014-04-16 00:45)

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