I was painfully made aware of this a few weeks ago. My piano technician had restored this absolutely incredible Steinway B grand piano. He let me play it, and it sounded like heaven. Not all of them do BTW, the name in itself doesn't guarantee you'll have a brilliant instrument, but this one surely was it. A once of a lifetime opportunity, as it was for sale. It was meant to be a wedding gift from a dad to his SOL. The piano was found in a castle, in a total state of disrepair. My buddy was able to restore it to its former glory though. 3 months of hard labor.

Then, the marriage was cancelled at the last minute. Dad was seriously ticked off, and had no space, so he told my tech "just get rid of it, I never want to see it again". My tech/buddy - who's married to my piano teacher, said: "This would be a fantastic instrument for you."

"If only I had $60,000 to throw away on this." was my reaction. As that was the asking price. Now, I know that sounds like a lot, but for this instrument, $120,000 would have been reasonable too. Which made me think of all the money I had thrown away over the years. And even just saving the last 4.5 years would have made this possible.

Oh well, I have a great piano, and I'm not even worthy of such an instrument yet. I'll get there though. But I'll think of something a wee bit more small scale as a gift to myself.