Willis & Sons Uxbridge

CoolCallie · Post by **CoolCallie** » 04 Jun 2007, 23:43

I am having a very difficult time IDing this piano. It is an upright and above the keys it says Willis & Sons Uxbridge. It is all wood construction. Inside it says on a sticker, Tuned by Willis & Sons, the date and pitch on the sticker is completely faded out.

On the back there is two stickers, one long one:

No. 20883
Date 7/5/25
Back: Waleys
Belly: Terry
Mark off: Goodwin
String: JR
Chip Up: 1B
P&C: Heorton

The rest of the sticker has no names with it. There is a sticker in the corner of the back that says:

Piece No. 171
Lot No. CD-003

20883 is carried on inside the case as well, appears above a brass-like ornate dressing above the strings.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 05 Jun 2007, 00:51

This label sounds very much like the ones used by Kemble in the twenties, when they supplied many pianos to the trade, to be sold under various aliases. The number is also about right for a Kemble of 1925. However, "all wood construction" is an unlikely description for an iron-framed piano of the twenties.

CoolCallie · Post by **CoolCallie** » 05 Jun 2007, 03:12

Thanks, Kemble gives me a little more to go on than Willis & Sons. What I am trying to do is help my mother-in-law. Her father bought her the piano when she was a little girl. So it has lots of sentimental value, but she wants to know if it has real value before she takes apart and turns it into an armoire or something.

I am not asking for an exact figure and I know I will probably get the valuations link, I am just hoping for a range of value that you have seen throughout your lifetime for a Kemble from that era. Even knowing the true manufacturer of the piano has put me no closer to my goal, I also could not find a Kemble booklet on Pianogen.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 05 Jun 2007, 09:31

What you will find on pianogen.org is the fact that we make a wide range of booklets to order, as well as reports from photos. As to value, it has little to do with history, and somewhere between ten pounds and three hundred would be common, this is probably a well-made but ordinary piano. Only a tuner on the spot can decide whether it is worth preserving. Where are you?

CoolCallie · Post by **CoolCallie** » 05 Jun 2007, 14:16

I am in Sumter, South Carolina.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 05 Jun 2007, 17:51

I won't pop round then!