How do I find a buyer for a piano collection?

Pianos, pianos... what the collector's heart has collected and enjoyed with much joy and enthusiasm, usually over years and decades, must be dissolved, handed over, passed on, given away at some point.

Passions for collecting "often create suffering" ... The enthusiasm and meticulousness that collectors have for their collection is often lacking in terms of focus, sorting and stock overview. In addition, nothing is more difficult for the passionate collector than to part with something - rather keep it - it might still be needed.

If everything still works out well, it is all the more difficult to deal with the future of the collection in time. All too often this good time is missed and the surviving relatives have the difficult task of deciding on the estate. Without an overview, expertise and emotional access to the collection, it is difficult to organise its future and decide what to do with the accumulated assets. The easier part is the most loved and cared for part of the collection - usually there is still a large collection waiting in the storerooms and depots.

Based on painful experiences and descriptions, we urgently warn against professional neppers and tugboats who offer friendly interest and support via advertisements or wanted ads - and then turn out to be unscrupulous cleaners. In the meantime, we have witnessed several times and too often how so-called music lovers, antique dealers, appraisers, household liquidators, agents, etc. gain access to household liquidations or collections and then simply take the people who are mostly still in mourning by surprise. It is important to contact only reputable shops and professionals and to obtain proof of origin and references. Appointments should not be made alone. Signatures or quick decisions should only be made after consultation with trusted persons.

A private collection - even if it contains many and different objects - always contains a mixture of valuable rarities, averagely valuable objects, almost unsaleable objects and mostly only disposable objects.

If time and opportunity permit, the separate sale of individual objects or types of objects is always the better way, because this way more reasonable prices can be achieved - and it ensures that the collection items get into appreciative hands. Our recommendation, therefore, instead of giving in to quick offers to buy in the sense of "we'll take everything for an amount X on the hand", is to first examine other options more closely.

Besides the emotional loss and anger, it can very quickly lead to the loss of great values.

We can offer you our support for piano collections, grand piano collections, piano collections, self-piano collections and music roll collections. Since most collections also contain objects from the fields of mechanical musical instruments, photography, speaking machines, literature etc., we have some experience in these areas as well - and above all contacts to independent experts.

With appreciation and expertise, we support you professionally in this phase of evaluation, weighing of options for action and decision. Our claim is to be as objective and differentiated as possible and to back up our years of experience with very concrete empirical values, evidence, comparisons and references. We discuss the required effort with you in advance and agree on the desired course of action while maintaining all due confidentiality. We also have good experience and skills in the moderation of family discussions or the involvement of all parties. With all these variants it is important to consider the stricter legislation regarding ivory since 19.01.2022, see our article 'Ivory palpation on pianos?

Not every collection still represents a significant economic value when it is dissolved. Sometimes the effort required to clear the collection is greater than even the possible collector's value. And it has also happened that the disposal share causes considerable costs. Nevertheless - disposal of keyboard instruments is the very last option for us. As a rule, we still find enthusiasts for almost every object - even if it has to be passed on free of charge. The times when museums gratefully accepted donations are mostly over - the depots of all museums are overflowing.

And of course, as a piano shop and instrument lover, we also have a possible self-interest. However, we will discuss this with you in all transparency and make a clear distinction between the commissioning of expert opinions or support in the event of a collection liquidation - and a possible interest in buying. In addition, we always recommend that you obtain a third expert opinion in order to be able to compare your own assessment, our assessment and a further independent assessment. 

If you have a collection to dissolve, please contact us and we will agree on the concrete procedure. The first inspection with photos and available materials as well as an on-site visit will give us an impression of the size and condition of the collection.

We can support you as a collection owner in sifting through your treasures in good time and realistically assessing, sorting and cataloguing them with the current market view, identifying potential buyers (museums, private collectors, auction houses, private buyers at home and abroad ...) and establishing serious contacts.

If our services incur costs, we will address this transparently in advance and formulate these in writing for your good decision. 

Support is welcome!

We invest a lot of time and money to provide you with 'worth knowing' and above all valuable information in our 'fundus'.

We are thankful for any appreciative support. Voluntarily, of course.