I placed a bid on a Baldwin L on that bankruptcy auction some one posted about a few days ago. I could not be at home to check on the auction during the day, so I put a maximum bid in knowing that there was a big chance I would miss out by not being home. My max bid was $9000, and I was outbid by $50. Doggone it. I know that a sight unseen piano is a big risk, but if I could get a brand new Baldwin L for $9K I figured that would be one heck of a bargain. Some one got a great deal at $9050. Another L (also new) went for $8900, but I was afraid to place 2 max bids in case I won them both.

Ah well, these things tend to work out for the best. I'll still be happy with my little Kawai. Interestingly, pianos that I would consider to be lesser instruments went for more money than the Baldwin Ls did. A Kawai RX3 went for more as did several Yamaha C2s and C3s. I guess Baldwin's reputation is not what it once was.

wow, I feel your pain, this is a real tragedy. I don't know what to say. I shopped for the perfect L for a year before bought the one I have from Rick Jones Piano in Maryland. As soon as I heard about it I got in my car and drove there from central Illinois, checked it out for a few hours and bought it. It's a '95 and I paid $11K for it. The folks who won the bidding got an incredible deal.. I hope something else works out for you in the future. I think you are right about the Baldwin reputation thing. It's unfortunate because the pianos themselves, especially the Artist Series grands, are really good instruments. Hopefully the two you missed out on went to players that will appreciate them at least as much as you would have. Larry

oh man..

(the guy might have bid 14,000 - you never know.

Hi Dennis,

Better luck next time. Hey, I’ve missed out on a few bargains myself.

I figure a lot of piano dealers dominate liquidation auctions like that.

Take care,

Rick

Yikes. That's sobering for me - I have a 1964 Baldwin L I've been trying to sell for that price. I hope that sale doesn't set a new price point on these pianos!

That's a great point. All that it means is that you were the only under-bidder remaining at that point. You did exactly the right thing: You decided ahead of time what the maximum amount you wanted to pay was, and then you stuck by it. There's a lot of people who have major regrets from getting swept up in auction fever.

Well, I set my limit based on the fact that I checked my checking account balance when I decided to bid and found it to total a bit over $9000. The auction required payment by wire transfer by 4pm the day after closing, so I would not have had time to transfer money from one of several online savings accounts. Therefore that was a hard limit for me. Had I been home, though, I might have been able to bid on the second L that sold for $8900 or even the mahogany R that sold for something like $7300. There was also an SD concert grand that went for $11,000. No room here for that, but somebody got one heck of a deal. These were all new unsold pianos from the bankrupt dealership. Apple is correct, of course, the winning bidder may have been perfectly willing to go higher. After all we're talking about a piano that cost the dealer around $20,000 originally.

Larry B, I really don't think you have to worry too much about a bankruptcy auction setting a new price standard for your piano.

PS: Monica there was also a Mason A with PianoDisc that went for $12,400. Another once in a lifetime bargain price.

I missed the thread on the auction. What cross my mind is would those be live bids that was actually bought by a 3rd party, or are they being simply bought back by the finance company that put it up for auction?

I TOTALLY feel your pain because I LIVE in Phoenix and was watching in agony as those Bechsteins sat at $3K and $5K for ages...we actually called our bank to see what the quickest was we could get a loan but no dice.

sigh

That's a good point. Banks sometimes do that with real estate.

I don't know for certain, of course, but there were numerous bidders, and only a few who were winning bidder on more than one piano.

Auction fever is hard to resist. Once-in-a-lifetime deals have a way of recurring, though, even if one has to prepare diligently for their eventuation ahead of time. Buying a piano of those dimensions requires great care in the best of circumstances--trust me, you have not missed out.

For the majority of the auction (before things went up in $$ at the end), a few bidders had the high bid on multiple pianos (all of which seemed to be very low bids).

I thought the most likely explanation was that a dealer (or someone who had visions of being a dealer) was bidding on multiple pianos as long as they were sufficiently below what would be dealer cost for that model.

Although, having grown up in the rural Midwest and having gone to many, many auctions...I am very familiar with the tactics of auctioneers and banks who use 'fake' bidders to drive up prices. So anything is possible.

Personally, given that it was an online auction I was surprised to see the Steinways at the Mesa location go for so much less ($12K vs $20K and $21K) than the Steinways at the Scottsdale location.

I should have spent the weekend before the auction traveling around the metro area playing pianos...but I didn't.

Yes but it's hard to believe that when a brand new Bechstein B went for $18K and a brand new Bechstein C-91 went for $20K.
Sigh
At least it wasn't $3600, which it was for hours during the auction...

These are undeniably great deals. What I would like to convey is my sincere conviction that if one concentrates only on the fait accompli, one can feel as if the best things (opportunities) have always already passed one by. One can feel as though one has genuinely lost something. I believe opportunities (or their reasonable simulacra) recur in life.

Then again, you're too right that that sight-unseen piano purchase is a very hazardous thing. There were two threads just yesterday about sales frauds--- both Baldwins, too.

It probably wouldn't make a nice guy like you feel any better, Dennis, but there's just a chance we might see a thread from one of those buyers complaining about what a burn they got on that auction deal.

A big-ticket purchase is not the way to make a fever go down...

With all genuine respect, TX, how much of your regret isn't simply greed? I observe and see people wrapped up in trying to beat sellers into submission. I'm a consumer and I don't enter any negotiation with the intent to take full advantage of another persons weakness at that point of their lives. Peace.
Regards
Mike

Pssst! Mike!

It was an auction.

Indeed, an auction by a bankruptcy trustee is not the same as a negotiation with a willing seller. My regret is pretty mild, actually. I would have been happy to be the high bidder of course, but it certainly will not make me tremendously unhappy that I was not.

I can certainly sympathize with the bankrupt dealer. I have been in his shoes. It isn't a positive experience, but I am not harming him further by bidding in an auction of his former property. The damage has already been done and is usually (as it was in my case) about 50% self-inflicted.

TX
Perhaps there's a difference between a personal auction and a corporate one. I assumed (my bad) the dealer was participating in the proceeds that came from the auction. Maybe it was just a bank taking the hit. Sorry for jumping on to that conclusion.
Regards
Mike

Yes, there is a significant difference between a bankruptcy auction and a personal auction. A bankruptcy auction is ordered by the court and overseen by a bankruptcy trustee. The bankrupt dealer will see nothing of the proceeds one way or the other. The proceeds of a bankruptcy auction are for the benefit of his creditors (banks, finance companies, trade creditors, former employees if they are still owed back wages or benefits, etc. I once saw a former business of mine liquidated in this way. I can assure you that I got nothing of the proceeds. The money goes to secured creditors first, then any remaining goes to unsecured creditors. Most of the time the unsecured creditors get nothing. I have been on that end of things as well as an unsecured creditor who was left empty handed. Such is the nature of business sometimes.