[ Ref 070929 MMDigest, "Zimmermann Player Piano"

John,  I don't have $100K laying around either but I'd sure like to
see what this machine looks like.  In return, I'll share this gem.

About 30 years ago I saw a local ad for a player piano for $55000.
That's a bit higher than most upright pianos I'd ever seen, and quite
a bit higher than the $100 that I paid for my player, so I called the
seller.  I got a description of a standard, upright, Ampico player
in a dark wood case.  I asked about the price, thinking that they
had misplaced the decimal point when printing the newspaper.  To my
amazement he said that the price was correct as shown: $55000 U.S.

A week later I was near the address given in the ad so I stopped in
for a look.  The house was a small, one-story home in a lower middle
class neighborhood.  Sure enough, in the basement was an old upright
Ampico in a beat up case; the on-off switch for the vacuum cleaner
blower was in a plain aluminum box screwed under the keyboard.  The
piano barely played.  The owner was very enthusiastic about it and
really expected to get somewhere near the $55000 amount.

I asked why he thought that this piano was worth so much money.  He
pulled out a newspaper clipping showing a fantastic, concert size,
Ampico piano in a very ornate, heavily painted/gilded, art case which
sold in a New York auction for $55000.  He might take a little less
(say, $45000) but certainly his Ampico was worth nearly that much.

I told him that his was not the same rare, museum piece that sold in
New York.  This resulted in a wry grin which said that I just didn't
know anything about rare pianos.

But, who knows -- maybe someone came along who had also seen that
clipping and was looking for a bargain.

Regards from near Rochester, New York
Craig Smith