<font color='black' size='2' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'> <div style="CLEAR: both"> <div>Steinway's claim does some some validity. but then the same can be said for almost any piano.  When I was selling used piano back in St. Louis in the 1990's, I sold a 1960's Acrosonic for $1500 which was originally bought new for $350. I bought it for $700, but the customer probably could have sold it on the open market for $1000. I've had similar cases with other instruments, from Starck spinets to Knabe grands. If you wait long enough, inflation will eventually catch up to any product, as long  as it kept in good condition. </div> <div> </div> <div>By the same token, I had a customer call me to appraise a 5 year old Steinway S for the purposes of selling it. (This was in about 1995). I told him based on current retail prices, he might be able to get $18000 for it. He had bought it new for $25,000 and was told it would appreciate in value, "just like his stock portfolio" He was mad at me that I appraised it for only $18,000 because he was somehow convinced it would be worth $30,000 after only 5 years. </div> <div> </div> <div>Wim<br> </div> </div> <div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br> From: William Monroe <A href="mailto:bill@a440piano.net">bill@a440piano.net</A><br> To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org><br> Sent: Wed, Feb 15, 2012 <br> Subject: Re: [pianotech] video interview Ronald Losby, President of Steinway<br> <br> <div id=AOLMsgPart_1_b6b63cf4-09c8-48d6-809d-70a78f4153ba>Hi Jurgen, <div><br> </div> <div>I've a client who just purchased an 1965 M from it's original owner.  The purchase price was $4500, US.  The piano (in quite nice condition) I would suggest is probably "worth" about $12K - $16K in today's market, without any additional work.  So no, the numbers you suggest are not reasonable, however, some increase in "value" is possible.  Of course, there is inflation to consider............</div> <div><br> </div> <div>But I do think that the idea that the Steinway as an investment has some merit, though probably on the order of a durable good that "maintains" it's value over time.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>William R. Monroe</div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> <br> <div class=gmail_quote>On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Jurgen Goering <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:pianoforte@pianofortesupply.com">pianoforte@pianofortesupply.com</A>></SPAN> wrote:<br> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class=gmail_quote> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Interesting link, thanks for this, Kent. <div><br> </div> <div>One thing struck me:  Can anyone tell me how S&S can continue to make statements about the pianos as an investment?</div> <div><br> </div> <div>Quote Ronald Losby: "They actually make a fine investment.  A piano that was built 20 or 30 years ago can command 3 to 4 times what its original purchase price was."</div> <div><br> </div> <div>I am not positive on S&S prices  20 - 30  years ago, but is he really stating that someone  could sell their 1985 L for $100,000?  Or that a 1985 D could fetch  over $200,000?  To my simple way of looking at it, this sounds beyond outlandish ....</div> <div><br> <div><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Verdana; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px"><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Verdana; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px"> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word"><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Verdana; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px"> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word"><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Verdana; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px"> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word"><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Verdana; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px"> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word"> <div>Jurgen Goering<br> Piano Forte  <br> <A value="+12507542440">(250) 754-2440</A></div> <div><br> </div> <div><A href="http://www.pianofortesupply.com/" target=_blank>www.pianofortesupply.com</A></div> </div> </SPAN><br> </div> </SPAN><br> </div> </SPAN><br> </div> </SPAN><br> </SPAN><br> </div> <br> </div> </div> </BLOCKQUOTE></div> <br> </div> </div> </div> </font>