Asking price versus actual price

[Dirge]

Dear All

 

Many thanks for taking an interest in my thread. I'm sorry for taking so long to revisit it: I thought I had my account set up to send notifications of replies to my e-mail address, so I assumed no-one had replied.

 

The concertina in question is a 1910s Wheatstone English concertina.

 

As Dirge points out, my problem isn't with the valuer's expertise. It's that the valuer told my friend what amount he should be asking for if he were to put the instrument on the market, and not how much my friend could expect to sell it for eventually (my friend didn't think to make the distinction).

 

As it happens, I'm probably going to go for an 1890s Lachenal that another friend is trying to sell on behalf of someone else at £750. As a relative beginner, I'm thinking a £1.5K instrument might be a bit excessive.

 

Thanks

 

Remster

 

I'd play it this way: Unless the £750 one is a gift, before you commit to it ring the £1500 man, tell him that you're sorry but it's a bit rich for you and you think you'll have to buy a cheaper one, and see what he says. Thus you let him know you don't want it out of pure courtesy but at the same time he has the opening to say "Well, I do want to sell it. As it's you, what about so much?" If he starts the discussion you can both chew on commissions, dealers' prices, etc etc as talked about above and see whether you end up buying it. If he doesn't start the conversation you part as friends. That's assuming you think the Wheatstone really is much better than the Lachenal of course. Don't lose sight of the reason for buying it.

 

If, on the other hand, with your enormous experience (joke; we've all been there) you feel the Lach is really a bargain don't fanny about with the Wheatstone man at all, just grab the lach. I've found that someone else will snap up a genuine bargain if you dither.

[Remster]

Thanks, Dirge, that's great advice.

 

I probably wouldn't even have been having this conversation had I not been lent an antique Wheatstone to learn on! I've been spoiled.

[hjcjones]

The problem here is that the original figure isn't a "valuation". The value is the price it should expect to achieve in the open market. Valuation isn't a science, and a valuation is no more than one person's opinion - hopefully an expert one. It may be very difficult to come up with a figure, especially for items which are all in some way unique and which don't often come onto the market, but simply to suggest an asking price is dodging the question.

 

It is quite legitimate for a valuer to give a range rather than a single figure. What the valuer should have said is "don't expect to get more than x but don't sell for less than y". You'd then both know the range in which to negotiate without one taking advantage of the other.

 

If you're still serious about buying this instrument then I'd suggest going back to the "expert" to ask him to clarify his advice.

[Remster]

For anyone who's willing to help, I've just started a thread about the Lachenal called 'Should I buy this instrument?'.

[Remster]

I've got this instrument for £1K! As it turned out, I didn't have to haggle: the owner lowered his asking price on the grounds that he was selling it to a friend and it would get played. The tone isn't as sweet as that of the one I borrowed and not all the notes are perfect, but the responsiveness is spot on and the bellow action is amazing.