Collard & Collard

[Aaron Bousel]

I have a client with a Collard & Collard 6'1" grand serial #158853, made in
1899 (as far as I can tell), with a burled walnut case.  He's looking to
sell it and wants to have an idea of how much he could expect to get.  It's
pretty much in original condition which means everything's kind of worn and
tired, but still works.  The action is a bit strange; rocker capstans with a
center pinned leg that hangs down from the wippen and pops into another
center pin on the rocker, also a sort of auxilliary arm that is pinned at
one end to an extended wippen post directly above the repetition lever pin.
The other end is wrapped in buckskin and rests over the top of the jack and
acts, in conjunction with a burnished graphite protrusion on the hammershank
as a knuckle.  This may not be very relevant to it's selling value but I
thought it was interesting.

I know that piano values vary greatly from one locale to another (re: recent
posts about the price of spinets in Honolulu) but any information I could
get would be greatly appreciated.  Thanking you all in advance.
Aaron

Aaron Bousel
Ormstown, QC  Canada
abousel@rocler.qc.ca