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THE
MUSIC TRADE
FIXED VALUATION ON SECOND-HAND PIANOS.
The Subject Continues to Attract Much Attention, the Views Presented Being Most Interest-
ing
John D. Pease Says Public Should be Educated in the Matter of Prices—President
Blackmore Thinks Fixed Prices in Second-Hand Pianos Is Unpracticable—Daniel F. Treacy
Discusses the Matter from Manufacturers Standpoint in His Usually Trenchant Style—S. B.
Hohmann Says "The Second-Hand Piano Is the Bane of Our Existence," and Adds That
Every Large City Should Have a Clearing House for These Instruments.
The comments on the matter of the disposal of
second-hand pianos, particularly uprights, has
been pretty thoroughly discussed pro and con by
the various dealers and manufacturers in this
city as well as elsewhere, and the expressions on
the subject have been extremely varied. Many
dealers are content to let well enough alone while
the majority are in favor of a reform of some
kind, but can see no solution of the problem.
There is a general feeling that if all dealers
would strictly adhere to the one-price system
that the matter would eventually right itself,
but the difficulty is in compelling them to do so.
They aver that pledges have been broken by
others, and that they have been compelled to
resort to similar tactics in order to protect them-
selves. Those dealers who have kept to a strict-
it is not satisfactory. The people who want a
strictly high-grade instrument will go to the
dealer that has only one price, and who is in a
position to make the reputation of the instru-
ment good at any time. Then the values of sec-
ond-hand instruments will adjust themselves,
and the owners will feel assured that they are be-
ing allowed their full value."
Dawson J . Blackmore's
11
REVIEW
Views.
Dawson J. Blackmore, president of the Krell
Piano Co. and of the National Association of
Piano Manufacturers, spoke briefly, but decidedly,
on the subject of second-hand pianos taken in
trade by manufacturers and dealers to The Re-
view representative this week. "It is absolutely
impracticable," said Mr. Blackmore, "for a fixed
value to be placed on second-hand pianos of no
matter what make. Each dealer who acquires
second-hand pianos in exchange has a different
opinion as to their actual value and as to what
should be allowed for them. It may be of in-
terest to the dealer or manufacturer to obtain
a certain make of second-hand piano at the time
he is making sale of a new instrument. The
second-hand piano thus being negotiated will
consequently assume a value to him which ho
might not otherwise place upon it. The name
of the maker is something of a factor. Certain
makes have a commercial value, into which the
question of usage or wear does not enter. It is
sometimes also a question of obtaining the trade
of a customer which may have a value to the
dealer or the seller, entirely beyond the province
of the transaction under consideration at the
time. The difference in the price given by the
dealer, if in excess of the actual value of tha
second-hand instrument, which is not infre
quently beyond the selling value, is probably
added on to the cost cf the new instrument pur-
chased. I regard any such idea as thai of fixing
an actual value for second-hand instruments
at their true valuation. The owner is naturally
inclined to value them at far more than they
are really worth, and when an honest price is put
on them, are naturally inclined to try to get
more elsewhere. Only a short time ago I was
asked what we would allow for a second-hand
piano in exchange for a new one. When I men-
tioned what it would be worth to me its owner
was astonished, and I suggested that an offer of
a sale outright to any responsibe dealer be made,
and to use that as a basis of exchange. The
best offer varied from mine but a few dollars,
and was less than I offered to allow. If pianos
were sold on the open market to the highest bid-
der, or to a second-hand dealer, the amount real-
ized to apply on the purchase price of a new in-
strument, I think much could be done toward es-
tablishing a one-price system. So long as there
are dealers in the trade who have no conscience,
and who will resort to every artifice to sell a
worthless product at a high price, and dupe the
purchaser by making an undue allowance for sec-
ond-hand instruments, the honest dealer will have
trouble, but in the end, if the public are contin-
ually warned of the fact that these offers only
mean an additional price tacked on to the instru-
COL. IIAMKI. I'. TKIOAl'l".
ment they are buying, the one-price system must
win the day. I would advocate dealers announc-
ing the fact that exchanges have a limit of value,
and that no dealer can go beyond that point un-
less he overcharges for the instrument sold. I
hope that some good may come out of this sym-
posium, as this feature of the trade needs very
careful attention, and it is the rock that may
wreck many dealers. It certainly is a topic that
allows of almost unlimited discussion, and if
both the manufacturers and dealers give it the
thought and attention that it deserves, undoubted-
ly some method of arriving at the desired con-
clusion will te reached."
JO11N I). PEASK.
ly one-price basis, and whose price is that marked
in plain figures on their pianos, say that while
they have kept the respect of the public as well
as their own self-respect, they have lost many
sales because they would not make even a trifling
concession. They believe that the public should
be educated to the fact a dealer who has a fixed
price is more likely to make them a fair allow-
ance on their second-hand instrument and give
them better value than one who always can give
a "bargain."
This is the theory of John D. Pease, of the
Pease Piano Co., who expresses his opinion of
the subject in this wise: "I cannot see any solu-
tion of the problem, except in the honesty of the
dealers. The time for manufacturers to fix a
price on their instruments, has gone. If they
had adopted that policy, say, fifty years ago,
when there were a comparatively few, then it
might have been successful, but at the present
time the competition is so keen, and there are
so many grades of instruments offered, that it
would be impossible. I do believe, however, that
the time is approaching that the reputable deal-
ers will adopt a one-price system, and will cease
the making of fictitious values on used pianos in
order to make a sale. I believe it will adjust itself
just as the purchase of other commodities has
done. A man who wants a good suit of clothes
will not go down to Baxter street to buy them
because he can get the dealer there to throw off
a few cents, but will go to some firm with a repu-
tation, and which has only one price, as he is
sure of what he is getting, and has a redress if
S. B. Hohmann's Views.
DAWSON J . BLACKMORE.
taken in exchange, for which allowance is made
on the price of the new instrument, as imprac-
ticable."
Daniel F. Treacy's Viewpoint.
Colonel Daniel F. Treacy, of the firm of Daven-
port & Treacy, of 1905 Park avenue, in speaking
solely from a manufacturer's standpoint, said: "I
have read the comments by the various members
of the trade with a great deal of interest, and
have given considerable thought to the various
methods suggested of handling second-hand
pianos so that they may he received by the dealer
S. B. Hohmann, of Lincoln, Neb., in a chat
with The Review on the subject of a legitimate
value of second-hand instruments, spoke as fol-
lows: "The second-hand piano is the one bane
Of our existence, and we really have to put in
more work in disposing of it than in selling a
new piano. Of course, we have to make ex-
changes, but the problem always confronts us as
how to dispose of the second-hand instrument. I
only believe in allowing for one just what I
would pay for it in cash. I let my customers
know that any dealer who does otherwise is going
to get even with them in some other way, and
that they will be the losers by the transaction in
the end. I only wish that every large city had
some sort of clearing-house to which all second-
hand instruments might be sent. It would open
the way for sales of new instruments, and at the
same time it would give the dealer who had a call
for one an opportunity to select the make desired.