Why two eBay bidders were willing to pay over $50.00 for Duo-Art Organ
Roll 3281, "Madama Butterfly, Act 1, Star Spangled Banner Scene," can
only be answered definitively by those two bidders, but I am willing
to hazard a guess -- both of the bidders wanted the roll (for whatever
reason) and for both of the bidders, $50.00 was below their maximum for
discretionary purchases.

In cases like this, to me, what something is "worth" is answered by the
statement -- something is worth what a willing buyer and a willing
seller agree to exchange it for.

Why eBay auction 7414699970, "Aeolian Pipe Organ Roll Madama Butterfly
Puccini 3281," would close in the neighborhood of $50.00 might be
straightforward to explain.  This auction had a reserve which I believe
was $49.99 based on the bidding pattern for eBay auction 7414691675 by
the same seller for another Duo-Art Organ Roll.  Based on this
assumption, if one wanted to be the successful bidder for eBay auction
7414699970, one would have to pay at least $49.99.  Added to that one
would have to pay Shipping & Handling and for my Zip Code that would be
$15.48.

This thread did prompt me to do a little research about Duo-Art Roll
3281.  The last reference I could find to a "market price" for this
roll was $13.00 in the Duo-Art Aeolian Organ Music Supplementary
Catalog 1925 to 1928.  The roll in eBay auction 7414699970 was
distributed later than that by Aeolian-Skinner.  By "market price"
I mean a price at which one could, presumably, walk into a store and
buy as many copies of the roll as one wished.

Naturally, one is tempted to apply some index to this earlier "market
price" to predict what would be a current "market price."  In this
instance, the Consumer Price Index CPI-U might be a good candidate as
due to how I understand the average is calculated for this index,
luxury goods are given a higher weight and necessities such as food
a lower weight.  In any case, the CPI-U from 1928 until 2006 has
increased by a factor of approximately 10.

As interesting an exercise as this prediction might be, to me, this
prediction would bear little significance in the situation where at
a given time and place there is a "limited" number of copies available.
And, for Duo-Art Organ Roll 3281, that is the situation we face, today.
Maybe, somewhat over $50.00 plus Shipping & Handling for Duo-Art Organ
Roll 3281, is a good deal.  Obviously, at least two people thought so.

Joe Orens