<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000066"> Folks, A couple of years ago now, a woman from NJ called me asking me to go take a look at a piano in Naples currently being auctioned on ebay. She gave me the name, number, and address of the seller..and she said the item up for bid was a M&H C - she thought she could get it for 5K. She also had the serial number. I call the seller and make an appointment pronto. What I observed was a M&H C with the correct serial number that played really well. Outside of the action needing regulation and the hammers re-shaping, it played well above the asking price..the finish was walnut and it was 'ok' - nothing that would deter from the potential buyer buying it. I called back the woman in NJ and told her to jump on it..it is way undervalued in my opinion. Now, this woman doesn't know me from Adam, and is putting her trust in me to give her the correct information and my honest opinion, which I did. I also told her that if I had the money at the time, I would have put a bid in on it. The woman from NJ wins the auction, and has the piano shipped to her. When she sat down at the piano, she called me from the piano in tears..thanking me profusly for being honest with her and that she has never felt like she 'stole' something in her life, but this piano, to her, was the exception(it was a nice M&H). When my appraisal fee arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find a little extra in there. I called her and told her there was a mistake made..she assured me there was no mistake..I was worth that and more to her. I also gave her the names of some technicians in the area who would bring back the touch and the tone for her. She had placed her confidence in a technician that she was familiar with. It turns out her technician felt the same way I did - regulate and re-shape the hammers, and away you go. For about a year, we occasionally exchanged email with her 'little gem' as the subject line. I don't mean to sound like a back-patter here, but every once in awhile, there is a little gem out there to be found. You need to be ready for it when it's there. Phil Bondi(FL) </body> </html>