Query Only; No Pics, Yet: Turn of the 20th C Sheet Music

Do we have among our members any old sheet music curators or collectors? I've been handed maybe 30 of them, in see-through sleeves...most in pretty good condition...an''asked to sell them for benefit of a friends memory-care spouse.
I'm completely unfamiliar with this narrow market. I'll furnish pics in this thread if they'll help. eBay is the only venue I use, but craigslist is an option, I suppose.
Thanks for any guidance y'all can offer!
Warren

 

Maybe it also depends on the music and the composer or publisher?
@2manybooks , @Figtree3 .

 

Age. Rarity. Condition.

Debora

 

Got it, on both counts.
I'll try pics of the front pages, one at a time...these will either be rewarding to some extent, or a complete waste of time. Thanks to both AJ & Debora!

 

That's not an area of expertise for me. Adding to what Debora wrote, I think it also depends on whether or not anybody collects a particular artist or genre or piece of music.

@wlwhittier , I don't remember whether you use Facebook, but a google search led me to a link for a group of collectors of sheet music from 1890-1930.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sheetmusiccollectors/ -- Maybe somebody there could help.

I've found a variety of YouTube videos about selling old sheet music.

Also found this advice, last updated in 2019:
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-much-old-sheet-music-worth-148629

 

Thank you, Fig...I'm not on any of the social media. But my Kids (an' so on) are! I'll seek to enlist at least one of them in my cause.
Now: on to the Spruce Crafts link!

 

Here are the face-pics of the first (oldest) ten: 1879-1906




I see now that there are tears, soil an' ratty edges on some of these...so not much value will be available. I gotta try, 'tho.

 

Condition isn't everything. That's an early Carmen. It was first performed in 1875 and not performed in the US until 1878. Early Herbert + Witmark might have some interest. Englemann's Mother Goose Dances are Ragtime. They're going to take a bit of research but I'd assume all of interest although some more so.

Debora

 

I've certainly seen old sheet music with chromolithographic cover art to rival anything Currier and Ives ever did.

 

Are the Realtor labels attached to the plastic covers, or to the sheet music itself? I hope for the former! That sort of label might affect value.

 

Naw, on the face itself...sigh
There are ways to remove such debris, depending on the adhesive an' how long they've been stuck.
But old paper is a crapshoot, an' I'm not gonna risk attempting it on other folks goods.
These will sell, or not, as-is.

Thanks for your research on Carmen, Fig...it was one of Dad's favorites; he was born in 1915, an' was fond of opera an' most other classical music all his late youth an' adult life. He didn't read music notation, but would have loved those old pages...

 

It was Debora who did the Carmen research... @wlwhittier .

 

Carmen is a favorite of mine too.

Debora

 

Yes...it was. Losing my Grip!
My sincere apology to Deborah...an' to you as well, Fig.
Thank YOU, Deborah, for the research...an' your patience with my slight.