How To Date M Hohner Harmonica
How much is my old harmonica worth?
This is probably the question I get asked the most past email and the best answer I tin can give is that like anything else, an sometime harmonica is worth whatsoever someone is willing to pay you for information technology. I know that probably doesn't help very much, but unlike used cars and collectible pottery, there is no "blue book" of used harmonica prices. If you lot think you've found a valuable one-time treasure in the cranium, information technology's likely that you lot are going to be disappointed. Whilst one-time guitars are often considered to be "vintage", old harmonicas are more often than not considered to exist only something that has been in someone else's mouth.
Harmonicas were made literally by the one thousand and even sometimes past the million (Hohner, only one of the many companies to take manufactured them, produced their one billionth harmonica more than a quarter century agone). Fifty-fifty though many of them were speedily consigned to the garbage past parents with headaches, there are notwithstanding a lot of them out there in boxes of unwanted toys, belongings of deceased relatives, junk stores so on. The chances are, if your harmonica just looks like a harmonica, and then it probably isn't worth much at all.
Yet, if your former harmonica is shaped like a zeppelin, an car, a fish, a boomerang or a rooster, or if it features art deco style paintwork, or has bells, pipes or horns attached to it, then y'all might peradventure be property something of value. If it is in impeccable condition and has its original box, then information technology is probably worth even more. On very rare occasions, even something which looks to virtually people similar whatever other old harmonica may be a highly sought later model and a harmonica collector might be eager to take if off your hands. In fact, some harmonica collectors are so eager that I a few years ago watched a couple of them bid more than $40 dollars (plus shipping) for a harp they could accept bought brand new from their local music store for a mere $4.95!
How do yous tell if your harmonica is especially collectible? That'southward a tough one. A really tough one. In that location are relatively few books written well-nigh the history of the harmonica and even fewer of them get into much particular about the various models. Those that practise are generally in the German language and take some try to obtain. The best thing if you wish to get a good cost for information technology, is to list it on somewhere like eBay with some practiced photographs and a articulate description of it, especially of whatever writing that may appear on the harmonica or its box - and then cross your fingers and wait for the behest to start. Even some fairly mutual harmonicas may exist considered collectible by some people. There is a usually held belief (not completely without footing in fact) that Hohner harmonicas made before WWII are better than more than contempo ones. If you have a very expert condition quondam Hohner Marine Band, or 64 Chromonica, and then there could be a player prepared to pay a reasonable price for it.
I thing that can really heave the value of an otherwise ordinary harmonica is if it has been used by someone famous. In 2015, Sotheby'south sold a rather battered Hohner Vest Pocket Harp, something that would normally struggle to fetch a few dollars on eBay, for a whopping £4,000 - about $5,425! This was because the instrument was said to accept been given to Jimi Hendrix by Bob Dylan and there was a signed affirmation to this effect.
A few words of advice. Many brands of harmonica accept little medals engraved on the covers with various dates on them. These do not give yous any indication of the instrument'southward age; they are merely the dates various trade awards were given. For example, a brand new Hohner Marine Ring that rolled off the production line last calendar week will still feature medals with the dates 1871, 1873, 1876 and 1881. The dates are not that helpful at all, except that a harp with an award dated 1937 is unlikely to have been fabricated before 1937! Also, numbers such as 270, 365, or 34B do not indicate that the detail was part of a limited edition (as I take seen suggested on various online auctions) they merely indicate the catalog number of that particular model. The number A440 stamped on certain Hohner harps indicates neither a limited edition, nor a model number - it tells yous that it is tuned to standard concert pitch (run into FFAQ10). One fairly reliable way go some idea of the historic period of certain Hohner models is by the trademark on the cover. Hohner used various trademarks over the years, merely a peculiarly common one was a circumvolve existence held by two hands. Look in the middle of the circle - if in that location is a star within it, then information technology is probable that it was made prior to WWII. Hither is an example:
Later versions of that trademark omit the star. There are many other small variations in the Hohner trademark that may help give a crude approximation of the manufacturing engagement, but they are a little beyond the scope of this article. (I become into some detail about the changes of the Hohner Marine Band model on this page.) The significance of the half-dozen-pointed star has been the subject of much debate. Information technology has been suggested that it was a Star of David and that it was removed considering of the Nazis. I guess it is possible that anything resembling a Jewish symbol would have been risky to brandish equally part of a trademark during those times, but I am aware of no prove that the Hohner family were Jewish, besides which they also used v and eight pointed stars in some of their designs. I have also heard it suggested the number of points on the star represented the number of sons that Matthias had. However, it is by no means safety to assume that an instrument begetting a trademark with fewer points to the star is older than ane bearing a trademark with more points to the star. I have seen instruments that could be reliably dated to the belatedly 1800s that had the half-dozen point star in the trademark and I have seen instruments that were definitely made after World War I that had only 5 points to the star. Figuring out the historic period of a harmonica is by no ways easy, nor is information technology always relevant to the value of the instrument.
All of the in a higher place raises the inevitable question of hygiene - is information technology safe to play something that has been in someone else'south mouth? The biggest health run a risk is when you share a harmonica with someone within moments of it being used past the other person. One time the harp has had the gamble to dry out thoroughly, there is relatively lilliputian danger of any infectious disease existence passed on. Yet, you are in with a very good chance of inhaling someone else's dried mouth scrapings - that won't kill yous, but information technology's not a very pleasant thought! If the harmonica has been lying effectually in someone's cranium for a few years, you lot also have a risk of inhaling some other tasty delicacies. I in one case attended one of the UK's biggest antiques and collectibles fairs, hunting for erstwhile harps. I spotted an old F. A. Bohm tremolo harmonica lying on i of the tables and tried to suppress my look of interest as I approached it. Manifestly I didn't do such a expert task, equally the dealer instantly pounced upon me and thrust the harp towards me with the words "You can play it if yous like." Her willingness to permit me blow into information technology suggested that perhaps many other lips had been on its mouthpiece that aforementioned mean solar day, so I declined, at which betoken she said "It's perfectly OK - I've given it a good cleaning" and she put the harp in her rima oris and proceeded to blow and draw with swell enthusiasm. As it turned out, she was willing to sell the harp at a fair price, so I bought information technology. A couple of days later I got around taking it apart to clean information technology. During the cleaning process, I removed 3 or four dried out cocoons of who-knows-what sort of insect that had decided a harmonica would be the perfect place to incubate its offspring.
You have been warned!
IMPORTANT!
It is likely that you establish this page with a search engine, equally yous sit at your computer with an old harmonica in your lap, curious as to how much information technology is worth. It is also likely that you are now considering emailing me for more than information on the possible value of your harmonica. Be warned: if you lot email me to ask how much your old harmonica is worth, I volition simply reply with a link to this page. This folio tells you lot pretty much everything I can about the value of your quondam harmonica without actually seeing it. I cannot provide costless appraisals by email, non even rough estimates, so please don't ask.
If you crave a professional appraisal of an one-time harmonica for insurance purposes or whatsoever other reason, I am willing to provide such a service. Withal, it is impossible to brand an fair estimate of the value of an instrument without seeing it. I will require that you send the instrument to me, paying for the shipping and insurance each way. As this is a professional service, there will of course be a fee for it - and I should warn you that in the vast bulk of cases, the toll of such an valuation will about certainly be more than than the instrument is worth.
Source: https://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q4.html
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