With over 42 years of documenting and evaluating pianos, Piano Finders has created the Piano Finders’ 5 Tier Hierarchy for Celebrity Piano Value, for comparing the monetary worth of celebrity pianos. Piano Finders takes into consideration the symbolic, cultural and social value and whether or not each of these things have a commercial value and how much that value might be based upon authentication, comps and historical records. There can be many factors to consider when appraising a piano or agreeing to act as a broker for a piano. This can be a very complex process with some pianos, and less complicated with others.
For the purpose of giving the public a ballpark understanding of why some pianos might be considered more valuable than others, Piano Finders has created Five Tier Hierarchy of Celebrity Piano Value, with 1 as the highest and 5 as the lowest in the tier. Within this Five Tier Hierarchy are subcategories each with their own five tier hierarchy. The overall tier is a subjective opinion, based upon the appraiser’s reasoning which might be elaborated in a document 8 to 20 pages long with appendix up to 200 pages, depending upon the complexity of factors taken into consideration and the richness of the provenance.
A comparison of 7 pianos to Piano Finders’ 5 Tier Hierarchy of Celebrity Piano Value
| Tier | Piano Id | Artist Type | Contact Type | Place Type | Event Type | Musician? | Comps? |
| 1 | Lennon-Ono-Green-Warhol Baldwin Piano | 1,1,1,2 | 1,2,3 | 2,5 | 2,5 | Yes | Yes |
| 1 | For Sale Privately #1 (NDA required) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Yes | Yes |
| 1 | For Sale Privately #2 (NDA Required) | 1 | 1,2,3,4 | 3 | 3 | Yes | Yes |
| 2 | Art on Piano 1 Steinway & Sons 336882 | 4 | 1,3,5 | 1 | 1,2,3,4,5 | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | Rubinstein-Monk Steinway & Sons | 2 | 2,4,5 | 2,4 | 5 | Yes | Yes |
| 4 | For Sale: EJ Red Piano 16 of 30 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | Rutherford Mason & Hamlin | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | No | No |
Artist Type
Celebrity artist type, organized by hierarchy with 1 being highest and 5 being lowest
- Mega artist, globally known.
- Named artist performing with mega artist.
- Artist with fan base that buys memorabilia.
- Artist contributing significantly to cultural or symbolic history of music genre or historical event or period.
- Local artist with local fan base.
Contact Type
Type of contact celebrity artists has with piano, organized by hierarchy with 1 being highest and 5 being lowest
- Artist composed on piano.
- Artist owned piano and/or gave as gift to close friend/family.
- Artist performed or recorded on piano.
- Artist made limited edition recordings for piano.
- Artist signed piano.
Place Type
Type of place piano was physically located at, organized by hierarchy with 1 being highest and 5 being lowest.
- Iconic world-famous place.
- Place where many mega artists have performed, recorded, filmed or retreated to.
- Insider’s private place.
- Place significant within country.
- Place significant locally.
Event Type
Type of event piano was physically located in, organized by hierarchy with 1 being highest and 5 being lowest.
- Mega iconic event, globally known.
- Event contributes significantly to cultural or symbolic history of music genre or historical event or period or mega artist’s biography.
- Event’s history has a fan base today.
- Event has museum or fan clubs preserving history for future.
- Event was documented in local media.