What are they worth?

[ssramage]

I have a couple of trumpets that I may let go to fund another project, but I'm not sure what they're worth.

Buice 5.5" Rosewood
Buice 6" Macassar Ebony

Both have basically sat on the shelf since I bought them. Push in mouth pieces.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Less about what it's "worth," and more about what someone will pay, especially amidst the current trumpet craze. Personally if I were selling I'd list them on eBay with a bottom of $350 each and see where they go. Hell, you might get $600 out of one the way those listings have been going and given people's now now now attitudes with regards to lists.


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[ol bob]

Well said.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Ebay rips  you off . Better to sell them for the true value here.
Call Billy he can tell u what they sell for.

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He would pay a 12.5% sellers fee on eBay. So long as each auction breaks $400 odds are he'll make more there than what he would here even after paying the fees. At $400 on eBay he'd clear $350 each which is what I think he could ask and get here fairly quickly. But considering what some of the trumpets have brought lately on eBay he may very well bring a good bit more than what they're "worth."

But who knows, some folks on here may give him more than that. Could always ask it and see what happens.


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[davisd9]

I can tell you that because of the amount of money people have been getting and asking for his calls Mr. Billy is raising his prices.  He should be the one that is actually should be profiting off his work.

[Rzrbac]

I can tell you that because of the amount of money people have been getting and asking for his calls Mr. Billy is raising his prices.  He should be the one that is actually should be profiting off his work.

Talked to Mr. Buice this morning. He's very much aware of the money his calls are demanding on various secondary markets. If there is a profit to be made on a call, it should be made by the maker.
I have also talked to another maker recently and this subject came up. I'm not quoting what they have said but basically they aren't trying to price the average turkey hunter out of their calls but they also aren't building them so someone else can profit off of their work. Some may disagree as that is just capitalism at work. I'm not faulting someone for selling a call especially if they aren't being used. I do think it's misleading to ask a callmaker to build a call with the intent to profit off of it.

[turkey stew]

What is happening is the collector/ hunter is going to price themselves out of purchasing calls. I do`nt blame the call maker but the purchaser! The purchaser is going to price a person of average means out of any custom call. Look at the dramatic price increases in the past 10 years!

[davisd9]

What is happening is the collector/ hunter is going to price themselves out of purchasing calls. I do`nt blame the call maker but the purchaser! The purchaser is going to price a person of average means out of any custom call. Look at the dramatic price increases in the past 10 years!

Great post and the hunters are being priced out of the market.

[paboxcall]

If the callmaker raises his initial asking price, the secondary market value will increase as well. Net benefit is more money in the callmaker pocket, but it doesn't solve the problem of over-priced calls in the secondary market, demand is demand.

Can't apply logic nor reason to demand.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Mr. Buice most certainly should increase the price of his calls. His name and the reputation of his calls and the subsequent following has increased the value, which is a great thing. That's what a callmaker should dream of happening. But to act like the owner of a call shouldn't profit off an increase of value that takes place over the course of ownership is absurd. Sell me y'all's flattops for what you paid Billy. Sell me that 1988 Cody slate for $15 or whatever they paid back then, or maybe $20 for that Cost box they got off Neil in 1978. Now I know the intent of this conversation is with regard to people who are ordering, receiving the call, then immediately turning around and selling that call at a higher value to people who aren't patient enough to endure the wait list, but that's not the case of this posting and question and for the most part that doesn't happen too often. He asked the value and truthfully he can likely get substantially more than he paid at the time. If that's an ethical qualm for someone, hell, sell it cheap. Sell it for what you paid. I'll buy that 6" ebony right now for $250.


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[CMBOSTC]

I've always felt that the maker should be making a profit, not the second hand seller. The second hand seller didn't do anything!

[ChesterCopperpot]

I've always felt that the maker should be making a profit, not the second hand seller. The second hand seller didn't do anything!

If he's not making a profit then he should've long ago upped his prices (he is making a profit; certainly not all that he could, but a profit nonetheless and he set that price). But with regard to appreciation, there's not another product on this planet that carries that expectation. Houses. Guns. Cars. Paintings. Land. Baseball cards. You name it.


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[CMBOSTC]

I've always felt that the maker should be making a profit, not the second hand seller. The second hand seller didn't do anything!

If he's not making a profit then he should've long ago upped his prices. But with regard to appreciation, there's not another product on this planet that carries that expectation. Houses. Guns. Cars. Paintings. Land. Baseball cards. You name it.


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I think that you maybe misunderstanding what I'm saying.  The call maker deserves the profits, not the second hand seller. Yes, the call maker sets the price and then the second hand seller makes  a 200% profit.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I've always felt that the maker should be making a profit, not the second hand seller. The second hand seller didn't do anything!

If he's not making a profit then he should've long ago upped his prices. But with regard to appreciation, there's not another product on this planet that carries that expectation. Houses. Guns. Cars. Paintings. Land. Baseball cards. You name it.


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I think that you maybe misunderstanding what I'm saying.  The call maker deserves the profits, not the second hand seller.

Good callmakers eventually see an increase in value for their calls. I'd say yours will do the same. Even outside the major collector calls think about the Brad Roberts pots or the Clint Corder pots or whoever. Those calls sell on here all the time for higher than what people bought them for and they're worth it. To try to convince this person that the value of the call is what they paid is dishonest. It's worth more. And every person in this thread knows that. Like I said, I'll pay him $250 for the ebony 6" right now and I surely won't resell it, but if he lists it on eBay he'll easily get double that.


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[paboxcall]

I've always felt that the maker should be making a profit, not the second hand seller. The second hand seller didn't do anything!

If he's not making a profit then he should've long ago upped his prices. But with regard to appreciation, there's not another product on this planet that carries that expectation. Houses. Guns. Cars. Paintings. Land. Baseball cards. You name it.


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I think that you maybe misunderstanding what I'm saying.  The call maker deserves the profits, not the second hand seller. Yes, the call maker sets the price and then the second hand seller makes  a 200% profit.

Following that logic, fifty years ago Ferrari should have been slapping $850,000 on their Daytona window stickers.

The maker cannot control the secondhand market. Demand is demand, you can't apply reason or logic and that's why a production box call from Quaker Boy or K&H push pin prices are netting $100 or more. None of that makes any sense. 

Only way for the callmaker to capture that secondhand market value is to stop taking individual orders, and stop using a list. When a call is ready, the maker offers it on ebay and buyers pay what the market bears and they feel is fair.

That will put those calls out of reach for the average hunter, and probably double the value of the secondary market over what it is today as that price accommodates the new and significantly higher initial price tag. I don't think anyone wants that to happen.