Greetings:

The Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, B.C. has been
donated a Seeburg coin-op player piano. I have been asked to
appraise it, as I specialize in antique and player piano
restorations. A tax receipt for a charitable donation will be
issued to the donor. The Federal government has been breathing
heavily down the necks of people who issue such tax receipts,
wanting to ensure that appraised values are not grossly inflated,
cheating the government of its hard-earned tax dollars.
Therefore, my appraisal has to be accurate and defensible.
Trouble is, though there are the typical numbers of player pianos
in town, Seeburgs are quite rare and I do not have a feel for the
probable value of this one on the collectors market. Can any of
you out there help me?

The official description follows:

J.P. Seeburg Electric Upright Grand piano, serial #11037; letter
"G" stamped in ink on plate below serial number. 88-note standard
upright piano with factory-installed 65-note coin-operated (dime)
pneumatic player action. Metal sticker attached to case: City of
Seattle amusement license exp. Nov. 30, 1979.

Quarter-sawn oak veneer case (no bench); three stained glass case
panels across music board, crack in one clear glass piece; two
clear glass (not original) panels across bottom board. Clear
plastic cover (not original) over keys. Case finish and veneer
are in fair to poor condition, with cigarette burns, scuffed and
chipped veneer, etc. The case gives every appearance of having
been displayed in a public place, perhaps a bar, as indicated
also by the amusement license mentioned above. Black keytops not
original; white keytops replaced with celluloid 30 -40(?) years
ago; case is slightly twisted. Piano action in generally poor
condition, hammers (Ronsen?)  and bridle straps replaced 20 - 30
years ago; action centres sluggish and hammer alignment poor;
tuning pins fair; soundboard good.

All pneumatics, including exhausters, control pneumatics and
strikers have been competently rebuilt 20 - 30 years ago; some
modifications have been made to electrical parts; coin-op
mechanism exists, but does not function - playing is initiated by
a non-original switch, player does not stop between tunes on
multi-tune roll as it would if coin-operated. Roll is standard
width - one roll included with machine. Linkage between drive
wheels and take-up spool shaft is loose - paper moves erratically
across tracker. Otherwise, the pneumatic system appears to
function reasonably well, though the piano action is so poor that
accurate assessment of the pneumatic action is difficult.

What's it worth?

  Doug Rhodes
  R.P.T. - The Piano Technicians Guild
  E-mail: wo631@freenet.victoria.bc.ca