Sonola Model AA3 - Bought on the Street - Value?

[nedotykomka]

Hi everyone! First time poster here. We recently bought a Sonola AA3 of a street vendor in Baltimore for $40 because we liked the look of it and thought it was kind of cool. We didnt know what it was when we bought it, just though it would be fun to maybe fix it up and try it out. Wife and I both play the guitar and I play the melodica a bit so we thought an accordion would be fun to add to the mix.

Looking online after we bought it, however, we were curious to see how much this exact accordion is actually worth. It is not in the best of shape and some of the keys stick, but it is still playable. We were curious about what you thought it would be worth in this condition. Many thanks in advance!

Heres an imgur link to pictures of the accordion:

 

[lightninboy]

What Ive been seeing lately is an old accordion has to be good or desirable to bring more than $100 or $200.

https://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5557

Play yours and get all the keys so they dont stick.

 

[JIM D.]

$ 40.00 ?? Well a great find.
These Sonola models are well sought after for accordionists in the know.
If I had found this one I would have easily paid $100.00 to $150.00 in the shape that its in for my use a a rebuild. You have a dry tuned 3/5 reed Sonola made in the late 50s early 60s of extremely fine construction with hand made reeds.
These Sonola models were made famous by Ernie Felice of recording and TV fame in the 60s.
See Here --


If I rebuilt this one in my shop I could fetch from $1,000.00 to 1,200.00 for resale.
Again A GREAT FIND !!
:tup:

 

[TomBR]

Nice to know that the answer to, "I have this old accordion, how much is it worth" isn't always, "probably worthless when you deduct repair costs from the value."

Good for you nedotykomka. If you look at other discussions on this site you'll see that the chances were against you!
Mind you, the Sonola has a look about it, hope you'll get to enjoy playing it.
Tom

 

[nedotykomka]

Thanks for the responses everyone! It definitely has a great look. We'll definitely look into restoring it. All the best!