(Listed) 1907 C.G. Conn "Improved System Wonder Clarinet"

[Tinker73]

My wife finally put her foot down!   I will be offering a large number of my clarinets for sale starting with my 1907 C.G. Conn Improved System Wonder Clarinet.  They will not all be sold, I will be retaining my Henry Gunckel clarinets, my integrated barrel clarinets, and my Fernand Chapelain line of clarinets in my collection, but the numbers have been growing too large and my better half has made the decision that some of them need to go!  I guess 34 clarinets is maybe too many, so the first ones that will be selling are going to be my Conn's and a couple others that really don't fit into my collection.

The first one offered up is this wonderful and very rare 1907 C.G. Conn "Improved System Wonder Clarinet" Bb HP clarinet.  A truly rare clarinet to find, much less in playing condition (just had new Tan Leather Pads installed).   Please see the EBay listing for all of the details on this one.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/232541238089?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

If anyone on this forum would be interested in it, please contact me before any bids are placed, I would much rather sell it or trade it privately to someone who will appreciate this one for what it is.  I would be more than happy to work with forum members looking to add a truly rare clarinet to their collection.

Thanks,
Steve

FYI- I really have no idea on what one of these is worth, I basically pulled the price out of the air.  There are so few of these that are ever offered, there really is no market price for them.  I would be negotiable on price, especially if involving a trade of something I need for my downsized collection.

[Airflyte]

. . . . "as rare as hen's teeth" . . . . .

Good luck with the sale Steve. That's an important part of clarinet history.

34 clarinets??? That doesn't seem too excessive 

[Windsong]

Tinker,
Amazing.  Honestly, it appears to genuinely be the best of the two systems, and I've not seen one before.
I have to wonder, as someone who owns and plays both systems, why this particular clarinet was not made more readily available and why it did not catch on.  I would love to play one. 
Best of luck on your auction, and if you need to send any reconditioned clarinets my way to preserve your marriage, I will be most willing to oblige you.
 

[Silversorcerer]

When I have 340, I might slow down. Shackleton had over 700 instruments;- not that I am competing, just having fun and learning from a statistically significant sample.

That one is a very important example. Thanks for giving us a heads up on the listing.

[windydankoff]

Tinker, I can't believe nobody even BID on this rare Wonder.

What's it all mean?

     or ... Rejoice! It's a buyer's market ... up to a point.

[DaveLeBlanc]

I've noticed that instruments in general have not been selling well at all for the last several months. Where I used to sell Normandys of all models for $300 easy. Now I can't sell them for anything at all. I wonder why...

[Windsong]

I've noticed the same, with few exceptions.
Sad.
Vintage wood should sell like gold...

[windydankoff]

Maybe it's due to the cut-backs in school music programs.

[DaveLeBlanc]

That makes sense. I even started doing a fancy new photography style but that hasn't helped either.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/332447591528

[Tinker73]

I'm of the opinion there just isn't as much dispensable income as there has been the last couple of years for most people, so items like clarinets are taking a back seat to where they are spending their money right now.  I also think the people with the dispensable income also have other things going on like "work" which doesn't allow them as much time to go through for sale listings.  I know the later affects me a lot of the time, I miss out on a lot of the bargain clarinets, because I don't look through the listing like I do when I have time.  When I do have time I do tend to make more offers or bids on instruments, and yes some of them have been listed for a while, or were listed previously and didn't sell and I contact the seller, some of these as much as a month after their listing ended.  These usually end up being a purchase. 

I don't get too worried when listed items don't sell, I just assume a lot of other people are like me, when you have the time you will look, find it and make a purchase then.  It would probably be different if it was a sale of necessity, but everything I list is usually something that can sit around for a while if it needs to and wait for the right set of eyes to see it, eventually those eyes will see it and it gets sold.

[Silversorcerer]

The expendable income drop is a factor I hear about often from friends. The test is the gift season. The prices, well some of them, that I see on auctions are spooky indeed.

Of course they are people with not even a sleeping bag that have new robot phones. I seriously don’t understand the 21st C.