Collard & Collard

[Balzac]

Hi,
Many years ago we found an old piano in the Chilean ghost town of Huara located in the Atacama desert. We visited an old closed building that had functioned as a pharmacy during the first part of the 1900. We found out that the building had been a Bordel when the town was famous for the Guano extraction (or Chilesalpeter) as it was known. In one of the room we saw the nicely curved legs of a covered piano. We bought it and had it transferred to Santiago where it received a 1 year overhaul and some info was retrieved. As we are not experts in the area we are looking for information on age and if it is at all possible to tune it today.
We have a number stamped in the upper left part of the frame 874.
It is an upright piano but with only 81 keys making a little bit less than 7 octaves. The piano would have arrived to Chile in the middle of 1800 or just after that. It has since travelled to Equador and to Brazil and to France and now found its resting place in our house in Sweden.
We have understood that there are some confusions about numbers on these pianos where a number can be a model description and not necessarily a serial number. Another number is stamped in the middle of the horizontal frame below ironbar saying 3108.
Grateful for any information.

We have used a very knowledgable and experienced proffessional piano tuner to make it playable, but it seems that it needs many tunings as it moves a little in its tunes ( I guess due to the absence of a fully ridgid frame). What experience do you or any of the well versed members of this forum, have on the effect of tuning such old pianos?
Grateful for any answers.
Jo

[Bill Kibby]

For details about published dates of Collards' numbers, you should read my Numbers page at pianogen.org

The Datemarks page may help you too. The 3-digit number is a model, and doesn't help. The 4-digit number cannot be dated accurately, and probably dates from the early 1840s, unless there is a longer number. Cuved legs suggests an upright piano? If you would email photos to me, I may be able to tell you more. It's probably 82 notes C-A, a common arrangement in Victorian London pianos suggesting that it is likely to be from before the 1870s.

[Balzac]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your answer to my question. Sory thjat i have not been on the forum for a while.
You are right, it is an upright piano and I enclose a photofor your info.
I understand that the 3 digit number is, as you say, a model number.
There is no longer number, just the 3108 that I mentioned.
I hope the photo comes over OK.



Rgds,
Jo

[Bill Kibby]

I can't seem to open that photo, is it very small?