An update. Having received no offers for the full organ, and having decided against eBay (few organs seem to attract any serious interest, so it would be a waste of a listing fee), I contacted some metal merchants, who admitted they had no experience of organs (a good sign!), but said that assuming most of the metalwork was zinc or lead, we might get up to £1/kg, which implies around £5-600 total (our local organ builders estimated the weight). One did a little research first and said "there may be some pewter, which we'd have to send off for analysis, but if so, the price could rise to £4/kg". Apparently tin is around 10x the value of lead/zinc, as can be found from the daily figures on the LME website, but the percentage varies a lot. The organ builders did not think there would actually be much tin included.
Having weighed the largest front pipe, it seems to be around 7kg, i.e. probably worth £7 as scrap but just a chance of up to £28. I did a straw poll of a few choir members and friends who had got married there, suggesting they might want to pay e.g. £20 per pipe to have one as a souvenir, on their mantelpiece, etc. Almost everyone immediately replied that they would want at least one. Some are keen to pay the same even for the wooden pipes (which would otherwise have virtually no value), on the basis of the graffiti from past generations of choir boys! So this implies that although the old organ might disappear, much of its skeleton may remain within the village -- and it is quite likely to raise more than we would simply from the metal merchants. The tubing inside would of course still go to the merchants.
The current plan is therefore to record its final voice, then dismantle the organ next week, and store the pipes somewhere off-site until as many as possible can be sold to individuals (we have not advertised this yet, for obvious reasons, but I sense there is no great rush: future visitors to the church or those whose ancestors are buried there may also be interested). The remaining wood panels may go for scrap, and the inner piping to a merchant. It will be sad to see it go, but wonderful to have a replacement in a few months' time.
One quick question: we are planning on dismantling it ourselves, as the organ builders said it is quite straightforward, so are currently thinking along the lines of a few burly parishioners with screwdrivers (and hammers if really needed). Apart from the possibility of asbestos which I have just noticed from another thread, is there anything else we ought to be wary of?
Having weighed the largest front pipe, it seems to be around 7kg, i.e. probably worth £7 as scrap but just a chance of up to £28. I did a straw poll of a few choir members and friends who had got married there, suggesting they might want to pay e.g. £20 per pipe to have one as a souvenir, on their mantelpiece, etc. Almost everyone immediately replied that they would want at least one. Some are keen to pay the same even for the wooden pipes (which would otherwise have virtually no value), on the basis of the graffiti from past generations of choir boys! So this implies that although the old organ might disappear, much of its skeleton may remain within the village -- and it is quite likely to raise more than we would simply from the metal merchants. The tubing inside would of course still go to the merchants.
The current plan is therefore to record its final voice, then dismantle the organ next week, and store the pipes somewhere off-site until as many as possible can be sold to individuals (we have not advertised this yet, for obvious reasons, but I sense there is no great rush: future visitors to the church or those whose ancestors are buried there may also be interested). The remaining wood panels may go for scrap, and the inner piping to a merchant. It will be sad to see it go, but wonderful to have a replacement in a few months' time.
One quick question: we are planning on dismantling it ourselves, as the organ builders said it is quite straightforward, so are currently thinking along the lines of a few burly parishioners with screwdrivers (and hammers if really needed). Apart from the possibility of asbestos which I have just noticed from another thread, is there anything else we ought to be wary of?