Wellington

[meluvsmonkey]

We recently were given a piano. It does need to be refinished, but we want to know the history of it first. How can I find out the history of my piano. I already googled the serial number and we can't find it. Here is the info on the piano:

Wellington Chicago upright

Serial # 87364

On the front part where you lift to play the keys it says, "Registered at the US patent office"

Does that last piece of information mean anything? Can I call up the US patent office and ask them, or does that just mean Wellington is patented?

It is a beautiful piece of wood and beautifully crafted. My husband and I would like to know the history behind the piano, how old it is and what it's value is. I think it would be great to get it back to it's original color. We think it's a black walnut, but it's hard to tell. The piano seems to be in tune (but I'm tone deaf). It does have a few chipped keys, but other than that it's in good condition.

So anyone know where/ how we can find our information on it? Thanks you.

[Bill Kibby]

It sounds like you are asking about the history of the individual piano. Nobody anywhere can trace every piano because there is no license or registration when one buys a piano. If you read the Archives page at www.pianogen.org this may help you to understand that for most pianos, no original achives are available to trace the manfacture and sale of a specific piano. The best you can usually hope for is a possible date for the serial number. Patents all have to be registered, and researching this will probably tell you nothing about your piano, apart from some aspect of the design which was probably used on hundreds or thousands of identical pianos on the production line.