How do you know what model a Wurlitzer nickelodeon is by the serial
number?  I know Don Rand has some of the ledger books of Wurlitzer.
As sloppy as Wurlitzer was in their numbering, can you be sure by the
serial number?

I know nickelodeons are down in value, but, come on!  A "plain Jane"
Wurlitzer I is surely worth more than 500 dollars.  I would be happy
with one for $500.  The valuation S. K. Goodman made on a Nelson-Wiggen
5X for 5 to 7 thousand dollars would be a bargain.  I have recently
seen two N-W 5X pianos sell for $11,000 that were incomplete.

Please contact me when you want to sell a nickelodeon for half price.
I have been active in the collecting field for over 30 years and have
what I believe to be a rather nice collection.

While I am on my soapbox I would like to comment that when you are
listening to a Reproducing Duo-Art / Ampico/ or Welte then there is a
really good chance you are listening more to an editor that edited the
roll than the actual performance.  Don't get me wrong, I love my repro-
ducing pianos.  When you listen to a Yamaha-made Disklavier disk you are
also listening to an editor.  Some people like white and some like black.

Don Teach

 [ Editors note:
 [
 [ In Digest 970111 was the question, "What's the value of a Wurlitzer
 [ nickelodeon, number 18457?"  That is all the information given.
 [
 [ S. K. Goodman answered that it is worth $500 in rough, unrestored
 [ condition.  That's his opinion, that's what he might pay if he were
 [ buying.  I'd say that it's a safe bid in the absence of a better
 [ description.  The serial number is immaterial, and Goodman seized upon
 [ it's uselessness for some humor.  I'm sorry you were mislead.

 [ If you are interested in buying the piano contact Larry Fisher
 [ <larryf@pacifier.com>.  Maybe you can buy it for $500, maybe you can't.
 [ As Larry said, the real value won't be established until a price is
 [ agreed upon and the money changes hands!
 [
 [ I couldn't find a mention of Nelson-Wiggen instruments in the last six
 [ months of the Digest.  What is the source of the N-W valuation you
 [ give?  Is $11,000 really the value of an incomplete 5X piano?
 [
 [ Robbie Rhodes