I inherited a uke colection, and I need help IDing and appraising!

Sorry to hear about your mom. What an amazing collection! If I had unlimited funds and space my collection might look a lot like that. I imagine she had a tremendous amount of joy buying each one and they likely each have a great story. Even the cute Kala fruit ones! To answer your question a good rule of thumb is used mint is about 20 percent off retail and if you sell on consignment it is another 20 percent off. If you sell the large collection in bulk there is probably another reduction rather than individually.

If you sell on eBay and reverb there are lots of fees that also bite into your profit. You can sell the high end ones here and they will probably sell without the extra fees. You can sell the mid and entry level ones on Facebook marketplace which has a little larger audience. You have some fun and amazing pieces. I might start a Google Sheet or Microsoft excel spreadsheet with name, year, msrp and suggested used price to give you an idea.
 
What a lovely inheritance. I think everyone here on the board would be thrilled to have such an inventory.

You should definitely think about get some help if you want to sell them all. Writing descriptions and taking photos, then keeping track of the offers, doing all the packing and then shipping will be quite a job. But like so many things it's a trade-off. You'll keep more money if you do it all yourself, but it will take more time and some initial expense getting each one prepped, packed & ready to ship.

On a personal note, chose one, or a few instruments, to keep for family heirlooms. There might be a uke player in the family some day and an instrument from your mom would be a real treasure.

Good luck to you, and if you decide to sell some here on UU, you'll find some very willing participants!
 
That is quite a varied collection. Some are worth quite a bit, but getting full value for the entire batch could become a fulltime job. If I were in your situation, I would contact ukulele sellers and see if they would want to put some of them up for sale. They would charge a commission, of course, but putting individual ukes on eBay - or anywhere - could turn out to be a nightmare. Just think about getting sixty large boxes to pack them.

Try Elderly Instruments, Mim's Ukes, The Ukulele Site, and Ukulele Friend.

Another idea: post the link to all the pictures on our Marketplace - https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/forumdisplay.php?7-Ukulele-Marketplace - and see what people might offer. Then do an online search and see how much they are selling for online. You'll have to decide how much you want to hold out for the maximum price vs a quick sale.

Also post on Fleamarket - https://www.fleamarketmusic.com/marketplace/default.asp

I don't envy you this task, although you can make a small fortune from the sale of many of these.
 
Oh, my! I just googled the Mini Martin "Terz" guitar and one like it sold for $3600 on Reverb. Very rare! My suggestion is to ask a friend or relative who has experience selling online (Facebook marketplace, ebay or reverb) and work out a deal (20% commission?) with them to research, list and ship the instruments. You will do very well on this amazing lot of instruments! If you try to do it all yourself, it will be overwhelming. Luckily, they are marked and easy to research. Buying boxes and shipping will take a lot of time but there is demand for them and with an experienced seller, it can be done efficiently.
 
I have consigned ukes with Gryphon strings many times. The main benefit for me is ease.. I can drop the instrument and they take care of everything. The best part is I get to support a prominent local store that is priceless. Posting, negotiating, packing, shipping those many instruments can be a big job if you post all of them at once. That said if you have the patience and perseverance you can over a year sell 60 instruments..
Also, I am interested in the DaSilva sopranos. I live in the Bay Area and can meet in person if you like.
 
My condolences on your mother’s passing. My father passed away about a year ago, and while he didn’t leave us any ukuleles (I do have two heirlooms, one was my mother’s and the other was my grandmother’s) he did leave us plenty of items to go through.

If your mother’s ukes have meaning for you, then you might want to sell them one by one, if you have the time. If there are painful memories then enlisting help would be my recommendation.
 
Hi, first off sorry for your loss. What an exciting and slightly wild legacy your mother has left you, though! You are about to spread a lot of joy and music out into the world, and that is a cool tribute to her.

Second of all, if about half of those are worth $500-$1500 *at resale value* and a good number of the rest are worth close to $300-500, then you have easily in the neighborhood of 40k worth of ukes there, and maybe closer to 50K with those custom jobs and guitars, and anyone who tells you less is lowballing you and you should keep that person away from your stuff.

Third, while I think you've gotten mostly good, earnest advice here, be aware that ukulele people, while generally kind and generous, can also be a bit crazy and covetous. Every single person on this forum probably got either dollars or ukuleles in their eyes when they saw your post. Conservatively speaking, each person here saw 5 or 10 instruments that they would just loooove to get their hands on. You are about to have a bunch of new "friends." Take all the advice you get with a grain of salt, just as you would if you had won the lottery. No need to be paranoid, but certainly don't send any instruments to anyone for "appraisal" etc.

I like the idea of consigning them at a high-end store. Shop around a bit for the best rate AND person that seems most trustworthy and pleasant to work with - you're lucky to be in the greater Bay Area where you will have some choice in the matter. You might also be able to find someone who would consign them on eBAy for you and take less of a cut because they have less overhead, etc. I hope this is not insultingly obvious advice, but make sure whoever you deal with has a good reputation that they need to maintain and is willing to keep all financial transactions completely transparent. You are in a situation where someone could easily "skim" $10k off you

Finally, please, for the love of god keep a few of these! As someone who has discovered playing music relatively late in life, know that it is not too late to learn and get so much pleasure out of those instruments and that legacy. If I were you I would hold on to at least one of those beautiful guitars and the 2 or 3 ukes that are the most pleasing to you to look at/hold/hear. You can always sell them later if the need arises, but a good number of those are essentially irreplaceable in every sense of the word. Give yourself, or your family, or guests to your house the chance to play and enjoy them!

Cheers!
J
 
Wow, I were you I would hold on to them. Especially the high end stuff. If I remember right the Martin Terz listed at 5 grand maybe 0 years ago. Amazing collection.

Tom
 
Hi, first off sorry for your loss. What an exciting and slightly wild legacy your mother has left you, though! You are about to spread a lot of joy and music out into the world, and that is a cool tribute to her.

Second of all, if about half of those are worth $500-$1500 *at resale value* and a good number of the rest are worth close to $300-500, then you have easily in the neighborhood of 40k worth of ukes there, and maybe closer to 50K with those custom jobs and guitars, and anyone who tells you less is lowballing you and you should keep that person away from your stuff.

Third, while I think you've gotten mostly good, earnest advice here, be aware that ukulele people, while generally kind and generous, can also be a bit crazy and covetous. Every single person on this forum probably got either dollars or ukuleles in their eyes when they saw your post. Conservatively speaking, each person here saw 5 or 10 instruments that they would just loooove to get their hands on. You are about to have a bunch of new "friends." Take all the advice you get with a grain of salt, just as you would if you had won the lottery. No need to be paranoid, but certainly don't send any instruments to anyone for "appraisal" etc.

I like the idea of consigning them at a high-end store. Shop around a bit for the best rate AND person that seems most trustworthy and pleasant to work with - you're lucky to be in the greater Bay Area where you will have some choice in the matter. You might also be able to find someone who would consign them on eBAy for you and take less of a cut because they have less overhead, etc. I hope this is not insultingly obvious advice, but make sure whoever you deal with has a good reputation that they need to maintain and is willing to keep all financial transactions completely transparent. You are in a situation where someone could easily "skim" $10k off you

Finally, please, for the love of god keep a few of these! As someone who has discovered playing music relatively late in life, know that it is not too late to learn and get so much pleasure out of those instruments and that legacy. If I were you I would hold on to at least one of those beautiful guitars and the 2 or 3 ukes that are the most pleasing to you to look at/hold/hear. You can always sell them later if the need arises, but a good number of those are essentially irreplaceable in every sense of the word. Give yourself, or your family, or guests to your house the chance to play and enjoy them!

Cheers!
J

i agree with your post....sometimes "friends" have other reasons to help..lol
looks like lots of work i hope the OP has time to sell all of the ukes
 
I'm so sorry about your mom.

That's quite a collection you inherited! There are some amazing ukes there. I have a friend who has been looking for a long time for a DaSilva soprano. If you're interested in selling one of them, I live in SF and my friend lives in the north bay. Feel free to PM.

I agree that if you want to do the work of selling yourself, the marketplace in this forum or Reverb might be your best bet. I also agree that if you want expert valuations and help with the sales, Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto would be a great place to sell them.
 
Yes, the year that the ukulele was made makes a difference. As does the shape that the ukulele is in. Most of yours look to be in excellent shape.

I'd make to suggestions right away: 1. Keep them in a room that has 45-50 percent humidity. Buy an electronic humidifier that will keep a constant humidity and an accurate gauge to check it. 2. Loosen the strings slightly to lessen the tension in the necks.

You have a number of expensive, highly-desirable ukuleles. Both custom and small production mfgs. Plus some good quality mass produced.

You can contact Collings with the serial numbers of the two Collings ukes you have and they will give you all of the information they have about the construction specs. From the labels it looks as though they were signed by Bill Collings which increases their value. They are worth well over $1k, each. Depending upon condition, model, serial number, etc.

Your Mother had excellent taste in ukuleles. I agree that you could get close to $40k selling them individually. If you're going to go consignment, use a musical instrument specialist. Not an estate agent. Best of luck with the sale(s).

Again, condolences for your loss.
 
This post made me realize the future that awaits my kids :) we all need to go one day but I sure hope at least one of my kids loves the ukuleles and keeps some of my ukes

Sorry for your loss but I am hoping with such great ukes your mom lived a satisfied ukulele life. I kind of agree with others, it takes a long time to develop taste and understanding of ukes and to collect these ukes, hope you take advantage and learn the uke and keep a few that you connect with..
 
Given how extensive and varied your mom's collection is, it would not surprise me if she were an active member of these ukulele underground forums at one point. I know from personal experience, I wouldn't know about most of these brands including the smaller production luthiers without these forums. Maybe she was super active a few years ago?
 
This post made me realize the future that awaits my kids :)

Yes. That's always in the back of my mind. The poor guy has no interest in ukes, and he's going to be stuck with one hundred to get rid of. I figure I'll leave a list of ukes and prices with my will as a guide.
 
Sorry for your loss. Browsing the photos, (impressive collection of ukuleles!), made me wish I knew your mom, and the story behind her collection. I hope that the ukuleles brought her great joy.
 
Seriously, there is too much money represented in that collection for you to sell without knowledge. You need to put all of them in the hands of someone who knows about Ukes and Guitars. Just for instance, that Collings Uke is probably worth $2,000 just by itself. They don't make them anymore, and they're highly desirable. Get hands on help.
 
Condolences for your loss.

There are certainly a wide range of instrument values represented here and a lot of the advice here is sound.

Two that caught my eye in particular were #15 (Kamaka HB-2D) and #54 (Collings UC2K). I'd make an offer for both, but you'd probably net the same amount by just consigning them. As others have pointed out, value maximization will come from selling them individually, but I do not envy the person who has to photograph, research, describe, price, list, and negotiate the sale of 60 instruments--and that tedium makes professional cosignment (at least for the ones that a shop is willing to help you with) an attractive option.

All of this also depends on your comfort level selling online--which nowadays is pretty easy and seamless, but one bad experience can change that quickly--another potential reason for consigning.

Good luck and hopefully all of these instruments end up in good hands!
 
Your mom had great taste. Like someone else said, looks like she was on a fun journey and would have been a great person to know and jam with. Many of the ukuleles are quite desirable. No one mentioned the G-strings, but those are nice sounding instruments too. Good luck.
 
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