Peter Stephenson Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 ........a lamb ? This thread has gone full circle. Has the Jeffries ben sold yet ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 (edited) Has the Jeffries ben sold yet ? The auction ends on Friday, but so far there have been no bids at all. Could a £2500 opener with a presumably higher reserve be just too high for today's economy? Edited March 2, 2004 by JimLucas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Stephenson Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 For a private sale I agree, unless you are willing to go and have a try while the auction is in full swing. It's different if say Barlycorn is the seller. Perhaps a team of concertina people could visit the private sellers and give an evaluation of an item up for sale.... Would you be prepared...? There could be check list , the usual points you would look for. But it would be a tricky job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 As I think I said in the original thread, if the box is as advertised, and if I was buying from a dealer such as Chris Algar, then I would expect to pay about 3000 pounds or a little more. I'm pretty certain of my ground on that. But of course I would have had the chance to play and examine it first. I think the vendor is being a little over-ambitious, and I do expect it not to sell, but we shall see... Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Afterthought: it seems to me that we've seen the end of concertina prices soaring ahead of inflation. In the case of top quality anglos, the price of a good second hand instrument is now (very roughly!) about the same as a new concertina from the Dippers or Suttner. IMHO that's where it should be, but I'm just as happy the price is no longer going up - I didn't buy my instruments as an investment (and I don't imagine anyone else on this list has either). English and duet concertinas are still selling for well below the price of a new box from one of the makers, but they appear to have stopped going up in value as well. It seems to me we've seen enough of the new accordion-reeded concertinas sell second-hand to get a feel for how they hold their value. It looks to me as if they'll lose perhaps a couple of hundred pounds when sold on, but that's all. After that it's all down to condition. I guess this is what you'd expect; they don't degenerate with age in the way a Stagi can be expected to, but on the other hand they don't have the rarity of a Jeffries to push the price up. Rich and Frank and Bob and Harold et al are all too busy making new instruments for us all to play. And long may they do so. Well, that was a long afterthought, but I would welcome other people's thoughts on the curent state of the market. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 In Ebay auctions I have kept an eye on, many serious buyers don't enter until late. This auction has already eliminated the hopeful by setting a higher first bid and reserve, so only serious buyers can bid. It is always fun to speculate on the reserve, and if the first bid was set at £2500 I reckon the reserve would be around £2750. By fluke of exchange rates this Jeffries is still at a low price if you are buying from Australia. Six months ago £2500 was $7500, now it is $6000. I won't be bidding though. regs Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 By fluke of exchange rates this Jeffries is still at a low price if you are buying from Australia. Six months ago £2500 was $7500, now it is $6000. I won't be bidding though. The American dollar, however, has gone the other way. £2500 is now about $4665. In January it averaged about $4375. In December it averaged $4040. And in late 2002 I believe it was more like $3535. I.e., for a stable pound price the dollar price has increased by 30% in 2 years or less. Whether prices are "steady", "rising", or "falling" depends very strongly on where you live. I don't know what percentage of the world market is Americans, but I'll bet they put some constraints on prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 I don't know what percentage of the world market is Americans, but I'll bet they put some constraints on prices. A very good point well made. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 Yes, US prices have come down by a third for us in Australia over that period as well. A good time to import lots of concertinas... Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 The Jeffries was passed in at £2851, after 7 bids all in the last three hours. Of note is the bid from Barleycorn at £2801, which may be a good indication of the wholesale price from someone who knows concertinas and probably this one in particular. regs Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Of note is the bid from Barleycorn at £2801, which may be a good indication of the wholesale price.... Which is probably close to the retail price. Unlike everyday goods, the price of concertinas doesn't double each time they change hands. Jeffries are expensive, but there's very little profit if you pay open-market rates for them, especially if you then pay to restore them before reselling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Thorne Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Which is probably close to the retail price. Personally I would have thought that if Chris algar would pay that then he must have thought he could have sold it on at a reasonable profit. Even if he was looking to make a modest 10% on the transaction that would put the retail price at about £3100. Perhaps he works on a lower margin than that! Personally, if I'd had the money, I would probably have gone to to £3000. After all it is a Jeffries, and it is 38 keys, and would have complimented my 36 key G/C nicely. Clive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Murray Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Since hearing of a Jeffries selling for $7800 here in the northeast U.S. I'm not surprised by any of the numbers. I've been looking at the scans of the Concertina & Squeezebox magazines and it's painful to see the prices. My Gibson mandolin only doubled in value over the same period and that only half paid for my concertina. Did someone say this trend was over? Maybe so, the G/D didn't sell, at least on Ebay. I suspect it has been sold by now though. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Winters Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Where did you get the scans of Concertina and Squeezebox ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Personally, if I'd had the money, I would probably have gone to to £3000. Ah, but you didn't. (Maybe that should be: You didn't, and you didn't?) The fact is, nobody did. Since hearing of a Jeffries selling for $7800 here in the northeast U.S. I'm not surprised by any of the numbers. If I knew of at least two people paying that much, I might begin to wonder, but it sounds to me like it's just somebody with more money than knowledge of the market. I'm sure (s)he could have done better by going to Barleycorn. In the other direction, I'm told of somebody who got a Dipper about a year ago for $1500. And the seller also had a Jeffries and a Crabb -- not for sale, -- so he must have understood what he was selling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ghent Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Where did you get the scans of Concertina and Squeezebox ??? See this thread... scans Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Stephenson Posted March 6, 2004 Author Share Posted March 6, 2004 Perhaps sellers are using e-bay as a kind of shop window, Hey everybody I've got one of these for sale. I do'nt expect you to buy it unseen but you know where to contact me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Murray Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 it sounds to me like it's just somebody with more money than knowledge of the market. I'm sure (s)he could have done better by going to Barleycorn. And a seller willing to take any advantage. Can there be a reason for one Jeffries to be worth $6000 and another to be worth $7800? I am truly interested in this. Should one expect to get something less than top shelf for $6000? E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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