Ernst Hoyer Concert Zither, ca. 1920
GUEST:
This instrument was owned by my grandfather who immigrated to the States when he was in his teens, his late teens. And he was a baker by trade, but he was also a musician in his home country of Germany, and then followed that here to the United States. And he settled in Philadelphia. And the zither was one of the instruments that he played. It's a family heirloom. I am a musician, but I don't dare touch this one. I know it's complicated.
APPRAISER:
This is a concert zither. A great player plays it and makes it look easy to play, but it's extremely difficult, but it's a very beautiful instrument. You've got beautiful engraving on the tuner side. This is a fretted, like a guitar fret board that's played it's tunable strings here, and then you have your harp strings here. And I notice right away that it had good strings on it, so it's really nice to see an instrument that's high end, professional, and was used and is still usable. Zither harp-type instruments go all over Europe. The concert zither, which this is, is more of a Northern European, especially a German instrument. You play it on a table top. It lays flat. Your left hand forms chords by pressing down on these bars, these frets. You strum a chord, or play individual notes with finger picks, with your right hand, and then reach over and play like on a harp. You have to know where the strings are. You pluck out the notes that you want for the accompaniment, base, and drone chords.
GUEST:
It has such a full sound when you do hear it being played.
APPRAISER:
It's a wonderful sound. It's intriguing. It's captivating. This is a German-made, it's a Hoyer.
GUEST:
Right, okay.
APPRAISER:
As complex, as beautiful as they are you would think that there would be a higher value. But I think it's a matter of supply and demand. They're more zithers than there are zither players at this time. Consequently, a beautifully made instrument like this, with beautiful rosewood on the face of it, beautiful ebony carving, here, beautiful bone inlay in the sound hole here, may only have a retail value of $800 to $1,000.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
Insurance value, if you're insuring it as a homeowner's, on your homeowner's policy, maybe $1,500.
GUEST:
Thank you. We actually have some recordings of his playing this particular instrument, so those things will be treasured forever.
GUEST:
That's a treasure.
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