My Pump Organ's Value?

Unfortunately, today, the value of unrestored antique pump organs is next to nothing. Maybe a few hundred dollars, if that. Many pump organ owners cannot even give their organs away let alone sell them and many end up as landfill.

Why, because most pump organs either don't play, or they don't play very well or for very long. They simply need to be completely restored.

To better illustrate this point, if you were to do an eBay search for pump organs or reed organs, it's the same, you would be "guaranteed" of finding somewhere around 80 to 100 usually selling for just a few hundred dollars.

Granted, you'll see asking prices that are all over the place. That's because people have absolutely no idea what the market is for unrestored antique pump organs. Keep in mind, asking prices and selling prices are almost always two completely different numbers.

I once saw a pump organ selling on eBay for $6,500 – for a $100 organ! And it too, never sold. Could you imagine paying that that kind of money for a pump organ worth $100?

I guess, wise are the words of the 15th century English poet Thomas Tusser, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Here's another market indicator.

Most knowledgeable antique dealers won't have anything to do with unrestored pump organs and if they don't, and antiques are their business, it's a pretty safe bet there's not much of a market for them. Just call an antique store and see if they might be interested in buying your unrestored pump organ.

Most thrift stores or charity organization won't accept them because they know nobody wants them. Some people are convinced because their pump organ is an antique, usually well over 100 years old, it must be worth something, even unrestored. Well, they're certainly worth something, just not very much.

On the other hand, the value of a "professionally" restored pump organ has a dramatically different value. However, it's important to point out having a pump organ professionally restored is not an inexpensive proposition.