I was at a piano store and restoration shop in Lansing, Michigan a
few years ago.  They had an Ampico A grand and a few Duo-Arts on
the showroom floor.  The player units were restored some 25 years
ago by Bennett Leady of Coloma, Michigan (the pianos restored by the
piano shop).

Thus, the pianos have failed to sell since they were restored.  They
had hundreds of reproducing rolls of all types at the shop too.  The
Ampico was priced at $18,000.  I think this shows that people just
don't buy reproducing pianos, so why would they want to save the
mechanism in an unrestored one?

I should say the numbers would be decreasing.  The majority of the
population today I'm sure has no idea what a reproducing piano is
over a Gulbransen 88-note player.  A woman at a huge Detroit piano
store (a Steinway dealer) had no idea that there were reproducing
ROLL operated pianos.

My 2-cents worth

Damon Atchison