Piano Sheet Music for Best I Can by Art of Dying
Desire to sell your sheet music, only aren't certain where to sell it? How much is onetime sheet music worth? Nosotros take the answers
A Flipsy customer recently asked united states of america where they could sell a big drove of sheet music. We didn't readily accept all the answers, so we promised to investigate. Our initial research led us to even more questions: Who buys sheet music? Are at that place websites that specialize in vintage canvas music? How much is sail music worth? The answers to these questions and more than are listed below.
We reached out to experts to answer your questions about valuating and selling sheet music. We exercise this as a service to innovate who we are: experts in finding a place to sell your telephone. Use Flipsy to notice your phone'southward value plus get offers from more than than twenty stores who compete to pay tiptop dollar. Stores are trust verified, offer free shipping and pay within a few days of receiving your phone. All-time wishes and thanks for visiting! Find your phone's value
Contents
- What is the most valuable sail music?
- A primer on canvass music identification
- Who buys sail music?
- How much is my sheet music worth?
- Where can I sell sheet music?
What is the most valuable sheet music?
Though most sail music sells for between $3 and $fifteen, some can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Here'south what some of the almost valuable sheet music has sold for at auction.
Sheet Music | Sold Price |
| The Star Spangled Imprint (Francis Scott Key) | $506,500 |
| Untitled Pianoforte Works (Frederic Chopin, autographed) | $225,400 |
| GIGI (Frederick Loewe) | $134,500 |
| Canticum Sacrum ad Honorem Sancti Marci Nominis (Igor Stravinsky, autographed) | $88,925 |
| You're the Top (Duke Ellington) | $eight,962 |
| Marilyn (Evin Drake & Jimmy Shirl, owned past Marilyn Monroe) | $6,900 |
| Civil State of war Confederate Sheet Music (various composers) | $4,465 |
| Hound Canis familiaris (Elvis Presley) | $1,062 |
| Blueberry Colina (Frank Sinatra owned) | $625 |
Note that several of these vintage sheet music examples have historical significance or were autographed or endemic by a famous performer. Curl downward to find out how much the sheet music nether your piano bench is worth (plus case prices from recent eBay auctions).
A primer on sheet music identification
It'south important to know exactly what canvass music you take before you try to sell it. First printings and vintage or antiquarian canvas music can be more than valuable than reprints and modern canvass music, for example. Pricing, publisher accost, and copyright date will aid you place your sail music.
| Pricing | Antique sheet music printed in the early-to-mid 19th century typically did not include price symbols on the embrace; instead, a star-shaped diagram was printed on the lower function of the title folio with a number such every bit 2½, 3, or 4″ which denoted 25 cents, thirty cents, and 40 cents, respectively |
| Copyright engagement | The copyright engagement, followed past afterward dates, denotes a reprint: "© 1920, 1975, 2015" |
| Publisher address | Publisher accost null codes weren't used until 1962-1963, so canvas music that doesn't include a naught code in the publisher'south address was probable published prior to those years |
Get-go in 1993, sheet music began bearing ISMNs – International Standard Music Numbers – which serve as unique identifiers for each publishing. ISMNs are similar to the ISBNs of the book world.
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Other ways to identify sheet music are through its composer and encompass art, every bit y'all can detect out what years a given composer or creative person was active to determine a ballpark historic period for the sheet music. The size of your sheet music won't affect its value much, if at all, just it can aid you identify its age. Canvas music comes in three sizes:
| 11 10 fourteen inches | Printed prior to 1918 |
| 9 X 12 inches | Printed after World War I to fit in new piano benches; the modern standard size |
| five x 7 inches | Printed during the World Wars to save paper for the war try |
IMAGE: Roosevelt March, dedicated to Teddy Roosevelt, published in 1902. Source: Kevin H. Lynch, The Lynch Archive
Who buys sheet music?
There are four chief types of canvass music buyers:
| Canvas music collectors | Some people take extensive sheet music collections, with the largest being comprised of more than one thousand different categories. |
| Cross-collectors | Cross-collectors are interested in canvas music not for the music itself, simply to broaden other collections. For example, a collector of Ceremonious War memorabilia might buy Civil War-era sheet music. |
| Local music stores and online resellers | Local music stores will purchase old sheet music they experience they tin can resell for a profit. There are also online canvas music resellers. |
| Decorators | Sheet music cover art is pop amid interior decorators; often used as wallpaper or placed in motion-picture show frames, for case. |
Every bit yous tin can encounter, sheet music has the potential to attract a large market.
How much is my sheet music worth?
Chances are, your sheet music is worth very little. Most sheet music sells for $5 or less, fifty-fifty in skillful condition. Still, some canvass music is rather valuable.
"Nosotros have a huge supply of extremely common twentyth century music printings, the tattered kind you lot can find in many antique malls in America, and yes, information technology is practically worthless with lilliputian demand," says archivist Kevin Hugh Lynch. "However, we have a desperate shortage of quality 19thursday century music and there is significant demand for this fabric."
The world record for the auction of a printed song (excepting manuscripts) is $506,500 (with Buyer'due south Premium), paid for the final copy in private hands of the commencement edition of Francis Scott Key's "The Star Spangled Imprint," which sold at a 2010 Christie's auction. A second edition sold for $32,000 at a 2022 Sotheby's auction.
John Coltrane's original composition for "A Love Supreme" sold at a 2005 auction for more than $129,000, for example, though that example included handwritten notes from the jazz legend. Who's to say your sheet music couldn't be similarly valuable?
"There is a well-known story in our avocation of a collector in Texas who bought a bound volume of music many years agone for $400, and inside was a start edition of our national anthem, 'The Star Spangled Banner,'" says Lynch. "eBay sold a copy of one of the earliest baseball pieces a decade or and then ago. It was the 'Alive Oak Polka' and picture and early baseball scene. Information technology was published in 1860 and brought $11,000 in the auction sale."
Prototype: Lithograph past Sinclair lithography in Philadelphia. Issued in 1863 during the Civil War when the Greenbacks fabricated their appearance. Secretary Hunt was Lincoln's Secretary. Source: Kevin H. Lynch, The Lynch Annal
Lynch said great sheet music rarities become across the rarities that typically get promoted in the worlds of stamps, coins, and fifty-fifty baseball cards.
"At that place are many historically relevant or gorgeously artistic 19th century sheet music publications that are unmarried-digit rarities with less than x known to exist," he says. "The Library of Congress itself is missing hundreds, if non thousands, of of import editions."
At the same time, 217 works of Broadway sail music past well-known composers were sold in 2011 for $142 –or nigh 65 cents each. That's inappreciably winning the sheet music lottery.
"The vast majority of sheet music in America printed after 1830 or and then is worth lilliputian or zip," says Lynch. "Due to overprinting, poor condition, or elementary lack of demand, as much as ninety percentage or more of single title sales change hands in the range of $three to $15. Unusually rare and significant printings can, however, sell for hundreds or fifty-fifty thousands of dollars."
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The near valuable sail music typically exhibits some of the following features:
- Rarity – most canvass music is easy to come up by, but some is exceedingly rare. Exist forewarned that a lot of online scammers claim to sell rare vintage sheet music, simply they're actually selling sheet music that's abundant or otherwise not desirable
- Artwork – many sheet music collectors collect based on embrace art. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, merely information technology's worth noting the more than visually exciting, the improve. In addition, some collectors seek cover art created by specific artists
- Historical significance – a first printing, or a handwritten original limerick by a famous composer or musician, tin can brand sheet music valuable. In improver, a item piece of canvass music known to be used at a famous functioning could have value. The historical fourth dimension period of sheet music publication tin can too make it valuable to sure cross-collectors
- Performer – again, cantankerous-collection fuels this market. Someone who collects Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson memorabilia might have an interest in sheet music they performed, for instance
- Signatures – sheet music signed by an artist, composer, or performer can be valuable for the signature, and the combination of a signature on original canvass music can drive up the value
Value is also affected past sheet music condition: the meliorate shape it'south in, the more information technology'south worth. Too, music that is no longer written – specially sail music with ethnic stereotypes and accompanying artwork – tin acquit value simply because no 1 writes it anymore or is likely to write it ever again. Ragtime sheet music is likewise pop, as well equally politically-themed sheet music. Embrace art that features movie stars tin can likewise command higher prices.
Image: A curious sheet music publication in 1854 featuring P.T. Barnum. Source: Kevin H. Lynch, The Lynch Annal
"The value of sail music is extremely fluid and is dependent, in sale sales, on 2 or more than serious buyers showing upwardly," says Lynch. "Sale houses Swann's, Sotheby's, Christie'southward, and Heritage have all sold American pop canvass music items for $2,500 or more than over the last half dozen years. Many on eBay have sold higher up $1,000. There is a very real market place for rare and desirable music printings, especially earlier 1870, many of these being not only original prints only literally historical documents as well. And, indeed, many rarities from the 20th century tin can bring $500, $1,000, or more in sale sales."
Lynch adds that the auction site you select and the detail description can touch how much you can get for your sheet music, as can the time of year and day. Summer is slow on eBay, for example, while Sunday nights are often prime on the popular auction site.
Information technology's said the sail music customs does not believe in set pricing guides, preferring to permit the market dictate canvass music value. Nevertheless, yous can find the ballpark value of your sheet music past first identifying exactly what you have, determining whether information technology's unique or significant in whatsoever way, and and so trying 1 of the following options:
- Run a search for "sold" listings on eBay to see what comparable sheet music has sold for
- Become a book such as "The Sheet Music Reference and Price Guide"
- Check Kovels online canvas music cost guide
- Take your collectible sheet music to an auction house for an appraisal
- Inquire a individual collector or appraiser to offer an appraisement – though Lynch says appraisals are not mutual for canvas music because valuable collections are rare, and the time and expertise the appraiser must supply tin can drive costs to thousands of dollars
- Sell your vintage sheet music collection in bulk to local music stores and online resellers
- Simply listing your canvas music for sale to see what offers you attract
"eBay, the depression terminate of the auction markets, sells eight,000 to x,000 pieces of music a month during much of the yr," says Lynch. "I track sales every three months, and you lot'd exist surprised how long information technology takes to review all sales higher up $30 – about an hour! There are many over $100. These include 19th and 20th century music publications."
Here are some example prices from recently-sold listings on eBay:
| Sail Music | Sold Toll |
| Mozart's Les Mystères D'Isis Opera Volume in Four Acts | $3,000 |
| 1878 Base of operations Brawl Galop | $ane,136 |
| The Boxing of Manassas | $990 |
| Day Tripper (The Beatles) | $579 |
| Walt Disney's The Legend of Lobo | $488 |
| Large Honey, Big Heartache (Elvis Presley) | $383 |
| 101 Dalmatians (Disney) | $250 |
| Charlie Chaplin Glide | $150 |
| Broken Pointer Theme | $100 |
| No Die (Badfinger) | $100 |
| Station to Station & Low (David Bowie) | $60 |
| Come up On (The Rolling Stones) | $l |
| The Memphis Blues | $25 |
| Alice in Wonderland (Disney) | $25 |
| Spirit of the Living God | $x |
| Calypso (John Denver) | $ten |
| White Christmas (Irving Berlin) | $10 |
| Honky Tonky | $five |
| My Way (Elvis Presley) | $5 |
| Buddy'southward Habit Dixieland Jazz | $5 |
IMAGE: Very scarce first cover of what many consider to be America's kickoff classic musical – "Showboat." This is from 1927 and these initial publications, quite different in design from later issues, besides tend to worth maybe x to 20 times what the others are, dependent on condition and song. This is known as the 'lyre cover' equally the graphic seems to propose that instrument. They are very hard to observe and were issued for each of five songs from the score, adjusted from the very successful novel. This is the get-go American musical where the volume, with its commentary on race relations, was every bit equally important as the music and lyrics. Source: Kevin H. Lynch, The Lynch Archive.
How does the most valuable sail music stack up to other famous collectibles? Lynch provided this comparing:
| Collectible | Number known to be | Selling price |
| Magna Carta, 13th century | 24 presumed | $21.iii meg (2007) |
| Shakespeare's first Folio (1623) | 200 to 250 | $6.ane million (2001) |
| Activity Comics #1 (Superman 1st edition) | 50 unrestored copies | $3.2 million (2014) |
| Honus Wagner T-206 baseball card | 50+ | $three.1 million (2016) |
| Proclamation of Independence 1st edition (1776) | 23 | $2.4 million (1991) |
| Inverted Jenny stamp (upside-down biplane) | Around 100 | $977,000 (2010) |
| Star Spangled Banner 1st edition (1814) | eleven or 12 | $506,500 (2010) |
"You lot'll notice the music is the lowest on the listing in terms of corporeality of auction, merely also it is the rarest on this listing of famous firsts," says Lynch. "Popular American canvass music is a rich field for collecting that has yet to have its true heyday. For pure Americana and the power of an image, it can inappreciably exist matched."
Where can I sell sheet music?
There are several different outlets y'all can utilise to sell your canvass music; keep in mind that some of these places likewise sell sheet music, and then they need to purchase your music at a price that's assisting on resale.
- Online auction sites, such as eBay and Invaluable Auctions
- Online stores, such as Amazon and AbeBooks
- Buy/sell/trade online stores – many of these are regional
- Ruby Lane
- Halcyon Days Music
- Hawthorne'due south Antique Audio
- Flea markets, swap meets, and trade shows cantankerous-collectors attend (find flea markets)
- Sale houses, such as Heritage Auctions and Christie's
- Straight to sheet music collectors
- Directly to local music stores
- Online collector communities (endeavour instrument-specific forums, Facebook groups and Reddit subreddits)
"eBay is probably the best outlet for selling sheet music if you lot call back you have something of value. Information technology's the nigh popular Internet auction business firm for canvas music sales, and it'southward easy to post on their site," says Lynch. "Unless yous take something quite valuable, you lot may desire to use this pick to sell. eBay has sold up to 10,000 pieces of sheet music in a month."
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For common music with limited demand, Lynch recommends trying your local antiquarian bookseller or secondhand store. You can too search Google for "sail music stores virtually me," "where to sell sheet music most me" or "who buys canvass music virtually me."
Prototype: This is the first edition of "The Stamp Galop," featuring a number of stamps from 1863, including several U.South. stamps. Lithography miming engraving. Litho by Roder in Leipzig, Deutschland. The American version followed this. Source: Kevin H. Lynch, The Lynch Archive
Be careful to avert scams, especially on sites you're unfamiliar with, and understand shipping costs too as who pays them when you lot sell your collectible sheet music. If you sell a collection for $100 but it costs $200 to ship, you don't desire to assume that cost. Too, be sure to protect valuable canvass music.
Lynch recommends storing valuable editions in a crystal articulate, zero-acid poly vinyl handbag such equally those fabricated by Clear Bags, and lay them flat in an archival box to shield them from dust and ultraviolet calorie-free. You can add together archival conservation backing board to your most valuable pieces.
The all-time advice we can offer for selling your sail music collection is to kickoff understand exactly what yous accept and acquit your ain research to notice out what information technology's worth. And so, y'all can pick valuable volumes to sell individually at higher prices and pack the rest in lots to sell in bulk. Compare different selling options and offers, if possible, and always keep in listen your sail music is ultimately worth whatever a buyer will pay for it.
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