Hagspiel & Co. Dresden piano

Susan Sherwood · Post by **Susan Sherwood** » 27 Jun 2004, 22:48

Can you please help identify the age of my "Studio Upright" Hagspiel & Comp., Dresden, beautiful burl wood piano? The number inside is 5423. I was told that it is a studio upright. Thank you.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 28 Jun 2004, 11:04

The term "Studio Upright" is american, and nothing to do with Hagspiel, although it may well be appropriate. Dates of serial numbers are not available, are there any exhibition medals listed on the piano? Hagspiel won lots of medals, and their dates can help, by telling us which ones are missing. Type "pianobition" in your address bar.

Susan Sherwood · Post by **Susan Sherwood** » 29 Jun 2004, 04:16

Bill Kibby wrote:The term "Studio Upright" is american, and nothing to do with Hagspiel, although it may well be appropriate. Dates of serial numbers are not available, are there any exhibition medals listed on the piano? Hagspiel won lots of medals, and their dates can help, by telling us which ones are missing. Type "pianobition" in your address bar.

Thank you for the reply. I have had this piano about 30 years and bought it from a man who purchased it in Germany when he was in the service. I did find an old book in the library once that did have the serial number and gave me an age, which as I recall was quite old. Of course, I cannot locate the paper now that I wrote it down on, but I could try to see if the book is still in the library after all of these years.
Under the heading Hagspiel & Comp. it does say "Hof-Lieferanten, Dresden," but I assume that to be an address of sorts. Otherwise, I don't see anything like a medal unless I take it apart and I don't know how. I'll take a photo and try to send it. On the front it has very nice flowers inlaid in the burlwood. About ten years ago a tuner told me that it had at some point been restrung and that whoever did it "did a very nice job." Thank you, Susan

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 29 Jun 2004, 08:36

I believe "hoflieferant" refers to the fact that Hagspiel supplied pianos to the court. Makers would usually shout very loudly about any medals they had received, either on the front of the piano, or just inside the top, perhaps the transfer was lost in repolishing. I would love to know who published dates of numbers, 12112 is said to be about 1863, but it is nothing like the pianos I've seen.

Big Bird · Post by **Big Bird** » 03 Nov 2007, 12:59

Hi there,

I am not sure of the protocols here but this is my first post.

The reason for posting here is that I have recently purchased a Gustav Hagspiel burl Walnut 5' 10" baby Grand piano.

It is rather sad at the moment, but I am currently restoring it.

I have been able to translate some of the labelling on the soundboard with the help of my sister-in-law who reads a little German.

On the label there does appear to be 2 coins either side of the main body of the label.

The one on the left is labelled as Franz Joseph I Emperor of Austria King of Bohmen King of Hungary, the right is Johann V.G.G. King of Sachsen. One of the coins has a reference to 1873 on it, so I don't think it could be any older than that.

Neither of us are sure of what hoflieferant means as our German is very basic.

My piano is serial number 980 so if anyone can give me any idea of how old it is it would be greatly appreciated.

The myspace page in the signiature is basically there just to document the restoration process.

Well, I think that is enough for my first post, I will endeavour to pester the experts from here on out, as...I am not a piano tech or even a player.

Game on!

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 03 Nov 2007, 18:10

Numbers are simply not a reliable way of dating these. They received another medal in 1875, and if this is not mentioned, the piano may possibly be close to 1874 in date. If you know how to remove the action safely (the working parts of the notes) this may be marked with the action maker's name and number, and we may be able to date this. See the Medals page at www.pianogen.org

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 03 Nov 2007, 22:50

Big Bird wrote: Neither of us are sure of what hoflieferant means as our German is very basic.

It's the equivalent of the English "By Appointment" or "Official Supplier to..."

Big Bird · Post by **Big Bird** » 03 Nov 2007, 23:23

My myspace page has photoes of all of the markings I have been able to find, and even though the piano is stamped with number 980 all of the pencil signiatures inside the piano are accompaned by the number 955. and the frame is simply marked with a 55 on the back.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 04 Nov 2007, 00:02

I've tried to look at the photos, the site makes no sense to me, but markings don't help anyway with these I'm afraid. We have encountered many Hagspiels over the years. Could you email ordinary jpg to me? So much space is wasted on the net for photos that are not searchable, so they are no use to the planet at all. After all, if you are adding to this wonderful worldwide resource, why not abel the photos to show what they are?

Big Bird · Post by **Big Bird** » 04 Nov 2007, 04:10

I have labeled them all

Big Bird · Post by **Big Bird** » 04 Nov 2007, 12:40

Another question then based on the Hof-Lieferant meaning "By appointment" or "Official Supplier to...)

The Label on the inside of the keyboard cover has on it:

Gustav Hagspiel
Hof Lieferant
Dresden

Would this mean that all Gustav Hagspiel pianos were made to order?

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 04 Nov 2007, 20:49

Big Bird wrote:Another question then based on the Hof-Lieferant meaning "By appointment" or "Official Supplier to...)

The Label on the inside of the keyboard cover has on it:

Gustav Hagspiel
Hof Lieferant
Dresden

Would this mean that all Gustav Hagspiel pianos were made to order?

No. It's simply an old marketing tool still in use today which is relatively meaningless, as in

"Rothmans fags, By Special Appointment"

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 05 Nov 2007, 11:52

Hoflieferant is more specific than that, it is a German word which appears on several different makes of piano, implying that they were supplied to the royal court.

UK Piano Page Piano Forum