Allison Grandette Piano

mody · Post by **mody** » 18 Sep 2008, 19:35

Hi, I have recently bought my son an Allison Grandette, & I'm told that I'm the third owner. This piano is specially constructed for India for S. Rose & Co., Bombay. As far as I know, S. Rose & Co. shut down sometime before the 1960s. I have been to your site to see how I can find out the age of this piano. So far, apart from "Allison Grandette", all I've found stamped is "H202" on the iron frame behind the keys. This is stamped in 4 different places. I can't seem to find any other numbers stamped anywhere else on the piano. Would you be able to tell me if these numbers can tell us the date of manufacture of the piano, or are they for something else. Under the strings, I can see very faintly the Allison name with the years that they have won various medals in, upto 1885, along with the medallion of Internation Inventions Exhibition 1885, & another one showing a half medallion with "REGINA" stamped on it.

I would be most grateful if you would be able to let me know the age of this piano, and the approximate value, just for my personal knowledge.

Thanks a lot, Maneck

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 18 Sep 2008, 22:06

The reference to "Regina" is likely to be from one of the Victorian London exhibitions, and could well refer to the same one - 1885. All this tells us is that the piano was made after that exhibition, the exhibition medal was mentioned on hundreds of pianos for many years. Serial numbers are longer, without the letter attached. As you can read on my Numbers page, there are many different numbers inside pianos, and most do not help with dates. Twentieth-century baby grands are notoriously difficult to date, because the are all so similar.

mody · Post by **mody** » 19 Sep 2008, 03:14

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your prompt reply.
Is there any other way I can find out the age of the piano? I have also looked under the keys on the left side of the piano, but no luck. Where else can the numbers be? Could it be possible that my piano has no serial number? Since Allison itself was taken over in 1929, I guess it was definitely made before then.

Regards,
Maneck

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 19 Sep 2008, 08:59

Pianos continued to be made with the Allison name. Email some detailed photos to me.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 20 Sep 2008, 10:15

Having seen photos, I would guess that this piano might be as early as 1920, but I can't see any definite clues there. If you know how to remove the fall (keyboard lid) you may be able to see if the action was made by Herrburger Brooks. This would put it after 1919.