Inherited 2 Accordions (Giulietti M74 and Hohner Tango IIM)

[shermanns0213]

Howdy all,

I am sure you have seen this thread before.. I inherited 2 accordions and know very little about them. Have been digging around trying to do a little research. The Giulietti has a number of items with its case, including what looks like a little card with hand written maintenance records starting back to 1955.. i think. The Hohner doesnt have any accessories besides the strap.

One shop said they'd give me $500 for both and pay for the shipping. Another said the Giulietti might be worth something if fixed up and they weren't interested in the Hohner. Dug around on Ebay, Reverb, misc sites and going price for the Giulietti seems to be around 1-1.5k and the Hohner $800? But what do i know..

Anyway, any info at all about these instruments and their worth would be much appreciated. Plenty of pictures below. Thank you!

 

[Valski]

Hello Sherman,

Welcome to the forum. You have inherited two attractive accordions and I would agree that the Guiletti is most likely the more desirable model however it's impossible to put a price on either instrument. Your Guiletti looks like it's a quality product, or at least it was at some point and the Hohner is a more basic although also more modern design.
As it is with anything used, the value (read price) depends on how much demand you have for what you're trying to sell. Currently I would guess that there would be more older used accordions in the Seattle area than you would find slightly older accordion players who might be in the market for something like you might want to offer. A dealer needs to inspect the item before they can offer you a premium price for it because they need to make a profit.
The problem with sites such as Ebay is that quite often sellers price anything that they're selling very optimistically and this does not reflect in the final sales price. When I peruse listings for any sort of musical instrument my first consideration would be to find a bargain unless I'm looking for something special for sentimental reasons and your offer of $500 might just be a fair price since it's sight unseen. You can't place too much emphasis on unrealistic valuation. To get absolute top dollar you might need to take your accordions over to a reputable dealer for evaluation and perhaps service which can be expensive so you're not guaranteed a higher return.
Anyway, good luck!

 

[Ventura]

the Gulietti is a decent model (slightly above student level), it has been maintained,
but it is just a 3 reed treble and i think a 5 reed bass.. he may have chosen this one as a stroller
and likely used it professionally

hey, Tom Demski worked on it (and probably played it) once, so it
had a brush with Seattle Music scene Royalty !

Seattle is a good Accordion town.. i would put it up on craigslist for $800 or so
and see what kind of feedback you get from local buyers

the Hohner looks clean and well kept too.. maybe put it up for $400 and see what happens

i am guessing you would prefer to move them along sooner than later,
hence my price suggestions, but if either box has playability problems
the prospective buyers will let you know

 

[shermanns0213]

Hello Sherman,

Welcome to the forum. You have inherited two attractive accordions and I would agree that the Guiletti is most likely the more desirable model however it's impossible to put a price on either instrument. Your Guiletti looks like it's a quality product, or at least it was at some point and the Hohner is a more basic although also more modern design.
As it is with anything used, the value (read price) depends on how much demand you have for what you're trying to sell. Currently I would guess that there would be more older used accordions in the Seattle area than you would find slightly older accordion players who might be in the market for something like you might want to offer. A dealer needs to inspect the item before they can offer you a premium price for it because they need to make a profit.
The problem with sites such as Ebay is that quite often sellers price anything that they're selling very optimistically and this does not reflect in the final sales price. When I peruse listings for any sort of musical instrument my first consideration would be to find a bargain unless I'm looking for something special for sentimental reasons and your offer of $500 might just be a fair price since it's sight unseen. You can't place too much emphasis on unrealistic valuation. To get absolute top dollar you might need to take your accordions over to a reputable dealer for evaluation and perhaps service which can be expensive so you're not guaranteed a higher return.
Anyway, good luck!

Thanks so much for chiming in. Appreciate the detailed response!

 

[shermanns0213]

the Gulietti is a decent model (slightly above student level), it has been maintained,
but it is just a 3 reed treble and i think a 5 reed bass.. he may have chosen this one as a stroller
and likely used it professionally

hey, Tom Demski worked on it (and probably played it) once, so it
had a brush with Seattle Music scene Royalty !

Seattle is a good Accordion town.. i would put it up on craigslist for $800 or so
and see what kind of feedback you get from local buyers

the Hohner looks clean and well kept too.. maybe put it up for $400 and see what happens

i am guessing you would prefer to move them along sooner than later,
hence my price suggestions, but if either box has playability problems
the prospective buyers will let you know

Thanks for the little historical tidbit about Tom Demski and suggestions. I appreciate it

 

[Ikesaccordions]

Frankly I would prefer to play the Hohner.

 

[shermanns0213]

I ended up selling the Giulietti for $700 - pretty sweet.

If anyone is interested in the Hohner - its still available so lemme know!