Arthur Allison & Co.

[roome]

Hi good evening eveyone, we have recently purchased a piano for son. The name on the piano is Arthur Allison & Co this is painted on to the inside of the keyboard cover in gold leaf and is not a brass plate like some on this website. There is a reference number inside of 24802 which is etched on the wood and also a label with 1721 wrote on it . Does anyone know how I would date this please.

Thank You

Mark

[Bill Kibby]

As you can read at the Numbers page at www.PianoGen.org Allison's published numbers are misleading, because there were several different Allison firms in London. For Arthur Allison, this number suggests a date around 1893, but have a look at the Datemarks page at www.PianoGen.org

[roome]

Just a quick note to say thank you for that rough date. On the front of the piano on both the left and right hand side there are four little holes i.e. 8 in total, was there maybe a candlestick holder on the front? And does anyone know where I could see a picture of this range of pianos albeit old pics?

Thanks again

Mark

[Bill Kibby]

Yes, there would have been sconces (projecting candleholders) but they were not standard on any given model, and some customers chose the designs they wanted. What are you hoping to see in the pictures? We have no catalogues for Arthur Allison - yet!

[roome]

My son has only recently taken up the piano, and I was just hoping to show him a picture of what the piano would have looked like in its heyday, after all it has out seen two world wars, the sinking of the Titanic, plus some other great milestones in history. Let's just hope it tunes up ok !!

Thanks again

Mark