created : 26-11-2009

update: 22-01-2012

Catalogs in our collection:

Catalogue 1896

Catalogue 1910

Catalogue 1921 Malkin book

Impeccable copies of catalogs are hard to find. As some like to have everything for free, I use a different approach: EXCHANGE.
(The oldest know principle to obtain something.)

You want something from me, so arrange to deliver something to me.

It's easy and it's fair for both.

Back to HISTORIE

Due to the fact that the Mustel catalog as an Acrobat files is over 37 Megabytes in size, it can only be shipped on cd-rom. Serious researchers can buy a copy of this cd rom, containing a second catalog picked from a list. Contact me through the "Contact" page. And no, we are not going to charge you to buy me a new car. (I don't have one, and I won't have one.)

Mustel catalog 1896

It has taken me years to acquire an impeccable copy of a Mustel catalog. I have to be honest on this topic: Many of the collectors ask money for a photocopy. No problem at all. But some of them dare to ask € 2 per page or even more. (One bloody limit was asking over € 10 for each photocopy!).

This is why this catalog is scanned in low resolution in a smaller size than the original (which is approx. A4 landscape in size).

Below are the pictures of all the 25 pages of this catalog. They are captured in an Flash movie.

The price of a Mustel harmonium in 1896

Whenever the brandname "Mustel" is mentioned it is most of the time followed by two remarks: 1) Top quality 2) Very expensive. That is why I took the catalog to calculate how much buyers had to pay to acquire a 'real Mustel'.

To grasp how much these price were in 1896, I have translated it (see footnote 2) taken form dr. Michel Dieterlen, L'Harmonium. This montly wage shows how expensive these instruments were at the time.

Modèle	caisse standard		Prix	Caisse optionel	Métaphone & Forté Fixe	Percussion	Clavier Tranpositeur	Prolongement	Talon Grand Jeu	Chaisse	Lampe à pétrole	Prix Total 2)
	carrée	pupitre
optionel					200	300	130 / 160	150	90	22	24

1	x		3000	160	200	0	x	150	90	22	24	3646
2	x		3500	160	200	0	x	150	90	22	24	4146
3	x		4100	160	200	0	x	150	90	22	24	4746
4		x	6800	x	200	0	x	0	90	22	24	7136
5	x 1)		1480	x	200	x	130	x	x	22	24	1856
6	x 1)		1660	x	200	x	130	x	x	22	24	2036
7	x		2700	x	200x	300	160	150	0	22	24	3356
8	x		3700	x	200	300	160	150	0	22	24	4556
Célesta 1 (2’)	simple chêne		980	50								1030
	simple chêne		980	50								1030
Célesta 2 (4’)	simple chêne		1380	80								1460
	simple chêne		1380	80								1460
Célesta 3 (4’)	Palissandre ou Bois noir		1100									1100
	Palissandre ou Bois noir		1100									1100
9	Palissandre		5800	x	200	0	x	150	0	22	0	6172
10	Palissandre		6300	x	200	0	x	150	0	22	0	6672
11	Palissandre		6900	x	200	0	x	150	0	22	0	7272
12	Palissandre		11000	x	0	0	x	0	0	22	0	11022

1) Les caisses du modèle 5, 6 sont différents du caisses carrée ou pupitre.
2) Salaire par mois en 1896 100 F.frs. (cf. Michel Dieterlen, L’Harmonium)

Comparison with a house organ built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll

From the information found on the internet I have created a table of prices of house organs by Cavaillé-Coll.

	Client	Opusnr.	Year	price	ranks	Man. I	Man. II	Ped.	borrowed	stops
1	Mme. Viardot- Garcia, Paris	46	1851		14	6	6	2		14
	replaced in 1864 -nr. 3
2	Mr. Comte de Stackelberg, Paris	102-41	1856	13000	10	5	5	2	2	12
	price at a sale 1863
3	Mme. Viardot- Garcia, Paris	248/227	1864	5849,25
	Supplemental price after trade in former organ
4	Mme Poirson, Paris	498	1878	16000	10	5	5	3	3	13

5	Exposition Paris	487	1878	25000	12	6	6	3	2	14
	Sold in 1902 to number 9
6	Mr. Taskin, Paris	606	1887	1900	3	3				3
	occassion
7	Voeu National, Paris	595	1891	31500	13	5	8	3	4	17
	Sold in 1913
8	Mme. De Scey, Paris	660	1892	30000	17	8	7	2	0	17

9	Institution oui-Lambert, Rouen	487	1902	10000	12	6	6	3	2	14
	Organ 24 years old, (sold from showroom C.C.)

	source:	http://www.cavaille-coll.com/ccorg26.php