FMV of a Thomas Celebrity Royale 871

[Guest]

Hello,

I spent last summer moving my Mother from the house she lived in for 47 years to a care facility. She donated her Thomas Celebrity Royale 871 to a local church. It was in perfect working order and the Pastor gave it a whirl (sounded great!) before packing up. He loved it! It'll be used in their rehearsal hall.

I have a tax receipt to submit. What's a fair market value?

Regards,

Don

[toodles]

I would not have the nerve to claim a value over a couple of hundred dollars, at which point, I probably wouldn't even bother to consider it a donation. The organ is over 40 years old. Many of this type of organ are given away just to dispose of them.

[andyg]

Moved to the correct section of the forum for you.

Value? Realistically very little. You don't give a location, and 'perfect working order' and an almost 50 year old Thomas organ (1973) don't usually go together. At that age there are always things to fix, which only someone who really knows the organ will find. Those two factors have a big bearing on value, but the main fact is that the market for big old organs is dead.

So, although the 871 Celebrity is a fine organ, and I'd certainly have one if I had the space (plus time and money to fix it up), you'd be lucky to make that couple of hundred dollars and might well have had to settle for much less.