Steinway’s New Prices 20 Years Ago and Now

This is a quotation from elsewhere, as the website of Steinway’s only domestic directly-operated store does not currently have any prices for new products. Therefore, the prices are only a guide, but the prices are as follows.

 S-155 ⇨ 10,250,000 yen 
 M-170 ⇨ 11,130,000 Yen
 O-180 ⇨ 12,010,000 Yen
 A-188 ⇨ 13,250,000 Yen
 B-210 ⇨ 15,220,000
 C-227 and D-274 ⇨ Unknown *All models are made in Hamburg, Germany, and are painted with a black gloss finish.

 In the era of 360 yen to the dollar, a piano was said to be “a piano you could build a house on,” and this price is still enough to buy a house. ……

 I wonder what the price was in 1997, a long time ago. I found an old document at hand. The following is a list of prices (excluding tax) when Matsuo Gakki was the sole distributor of Steinway pianos in Japan before Steinway opened its first directly-managed store.

 S-155 ⇨ 5,760,000 yen
 M-170 ⇨ 6,330,000 Yen
 O-180 ⇨ 6,740,000 Yen
 A-188 ⇨ 7,200,000 Yen
 B-210 ⇨ 8,420,000 Yen
 C-227 ⇨ 9,950,000 Yen
 D-274 ⇨ Unknown

 Almost double in 25 years. That’s a huge rate of inflation. I think these are fixed prices now and in the past, and not the purchase price, but I don’t know how the discount and the purchase price are determined. When was it that I received a scratch card from Matsuo Musical Instruments Trading Company that showed a discount on a Steinway, and it showed 70,000 yen x 26: …….

The discount was 1,820,000 yen. …… It was the highest scratch card ever seen in history.