You're lucky you didn't have the money! I had seen one at a dulcimer festival in Michigan. So I had an idea how it was played when I spotted one at an estate auction sale. Everyone else was speculating what it was: some kind of autoharp. no, it's a zither. (Zither seems to be a good catchall name for any instrument one can't identify) I said nothing - no one could figure out how to play it. I got it for a $25 bid.