An incredible auction of bagpipes

[sean an piobaire]

No Kevin, nobody robbed Alan Jones. I recognized the collection right away as belonging to Joe Moyer (RIP), his Widow Dominique, was selling them through that Auction House. The Pastoral Pipe went for 10,400 Pounds and it's going to be part of the collection of Instruments at the University of Edinburgh Museum. A consortium of Pipers from the Lowland Pipers Society made that happen. I actually registered for this Auction myself, but I didn't bid on anything as the Auctioneer stayed within the quoted Price Range for each Pipe. After the Bidding started the Prices went really High Up There. Even a Tunisian Mizwid Chanter (no Bag) went for 200 Pounds. Someone, or a Combination, of Deep-Pocket Individuals bought everything up. It started really early for me here in the Mid-West and I had an Audio Hook-Up on my Computer. There were several lots of Electric Guitars and other stuff to work through before the Bagpipes came on. That "Romanian Pipe" was actually a Veliki Gajde from Voivodina / North Serbia and I remember Joe playing it for me at Tony Bingham's Antique Music Shoppe on Great Poland Street in Central London, in December 1972. Joe was an Oboe Player from Berkeley, Ca. and had a small Music Store in Sonora, California, where his parents had a Summer Vacation Home. He met Robert Donovan Thomas (Bob Thomas) at the Renaissance Faire in 1967, & got "Bit" by the Bagpipe Bug. Joe worked as a Instrument Repairman for a number of Music Stores later, after his shop in Sonora failed, and he moved to England & worked for Bingham, where I saw Him again, after 5 years. The very last time I saw Joe Moyer was at the American Musical Instrument Society annual Convention at Clairmont College near Los Angeles, back in May 1998. At that time, Joe had his own shop again just a few doors up the street from McCabe's Guitar Shop on Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica. I had heard He moved Back to Brussels, Belgium, some time in the early 2000s. I was sorry to hear that he had passed away about 2 Years ago & I only got that news recently.