<font color='black' size='2' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A local piano store just sold a 1885 Steinway Square, in decent condition, for $5000.</font></div> <div> </div> <div>What insurance appraisers, and what most people think their pianos are worth, is a far cry from what consumers are willing to pay for one.</div> <div> </div> <div>A customer of mine paid $15,000 to restore a Decker Bros Square. Now she thinks it's worth $25,000 and wants to trade it even for a Steinway Queen Ann. She can't understand why no one is taking her up on her offer. </div> <div> </div> <div>Many years ago in St. Louis, a young man took out a loan for $5000 for a beat up old square that had been in his family. He had been told by an antique dealer that the piano, when fixed up, would be worth $25,000, so he thought it would be a good investment. .When I told him the piano was worth maybe $500, and after he spent another $5000 to restore it, it would be maybe $2000, he cried</div> <div> </div> <div>Some squares are worth restoring, but they will never be worth more than what's put into them. They are antiques, for looks, and historical perspective. But not as a musical instruments. </div> <div> </div> <div>Wim</div> <div> </div> <div></div> <div style="clear: both;"> <div> </div> </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br> From: Ed Foote <a440a@aol.com><br> To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org><br> Sent: Fri, Oct 26, 2012 7:26 am<br> Subject: [pianotech] Square's for $ 20K ? Is that possible?<br> <br> <div style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" id="AOLMsgPart_0_99d147af-46df-4e80-aa4b-b70a144a39f7"> <pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>Greetings, Recently, I was asked to give an appraisal of a square grand, and my fair market value estimate was approx. 5% of what others expected. In my experience here in Tennessee, these things can't be given away, but there might be other venues in which they are pursued. I was told that the insurance estimate had been $20K and that various web sites had them advertised from $20 to $35k. Does anybody care to offer what prices they have actually seen paid for these pianos in the last 10 years? Regards, Ed Foote RPT <a href="http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html" target="_blank">http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html</a> </tt></pre> </div>  </div> </font>