Only very well-off members of the growing upper middle class and the rich and very rich upper class were able to acquire a pianola and buy additional rolls of music. If one considers that in 1910 still more than 40% of the population had an annual income of less than 900 Marks and most of the remaining nearly 60% of the population had an annual income of less than 3000 Marks - and that living on simple claims required about 1500 Marks for a single person, it quickly becomes clear, in view of the prices of pianolas mentioned below, that only very few could really afford such a system.
A pianola and especially a reproduction piano was a luxury item. And yet all manufacturers were able to profit so much from the prosperity of more and more households, which was growing rapidly due to industrialization, that the production of pianolas was one of the most important branches of the economy between ~1908 and ~1920. The Welte-Mignon price list on the cover picture dates from 1928.
A Steinway Spirio -the modern reproduction system at Steinway & Sons- has today a list price of approx. 125.000,00 Euro. This corresponds to the price levels at that time in relation to today's average annual income in Germany of approx. 60.000,00 Euro. That means two annual salaries - which even today only the very wealthy can afford. A completely restored brand reproduction instrument of the brands Welte, Hupfeld or Philipps costs today about 50.000,00 Euro.
For your orientation, here is some price information from the original catalogues of the former manufacturers:
Price 1904 of an Aeolian 65 Pianola Vorsetzer: ~1.250Mark
Price 1904 of a Hupfeld Phonola Vorsetzers: ~850Mark
Price 1905 of a Hupfeld Phonola Vorsetzers: ~950Mark
Price 1908 of a Spaethe Pianist Pianola piano: 1.850Mark
Price 1910 of a Buff-Hedinger Feurich Pianola piano: 2.100Mark
Price 1910 of a Buff-Hedinger Feurich Pianola grand piano: from 3.400Mark
Price 1911 of a Welte-Mignon Vorsetzers: ~2.100Mark
Price 1911 of a Philipps DUCA/Pianella concert piano: 3600Mark
Price 1912 of a Hupfeld DEA Rönisch grand piano (2,15m): 6.500Mark
Price 1913 of a Hupfeld Phonola piano: 1.550Mark
Price 1925 of a Hupfeld Triphonola Rönisch grand piano: 10.900Mark
Price 1929 of a Hupfeld Triphonola Schiedmayer & Sons grand piano: 5.950Mark
Another interesting detail from the Feurich sales books is the development of sales prices during inflation. Here you will find the development until September 24th 1923 for the most sold Feurich Duca Piano ( raw oak mod III ). The adjacent photo shows such an instrument (ser no 30256):
Date of sale / selling price in Reichsmark
01Sep1915 / 746
22May1916 / 818
27Nov1916 / 895
24Jun1918 / 2,170
26Apr1920 / 2,400
07Jun1920 / 3,600
12Jan1921 / 7,100
27Jan1921 / 9,600
23Apr1921 / 15.110
31 Dec1921 / 12,600
01May1922 / 42,000
05Jul1922 / 55,000
07Jul1922 / 49,500
31Aug1922 / 102,000
07Feb1923 / 4.995.000
26May1923 / 8,050,000
10Sep1923 / 22,313,367,925
24Sep1923 / 39,243,623,000
