Steck baby grand #20936

[chappuy]

Hi I have just been given a Steck baby grand and am trying to date it. It says By Appointment to HM the King and HRH the Prince of Wales, so the only 2 possibilities are Edward VII and George V, or George V and Edward VIII. This narrows it down to 1901-1936. The only number I can find is stamped into a piece of wood attached to the soundboard under the treble strings so I hoped this would be the serial number. However the number is 20936 which doesn't seem to fit the Aeolian numbers for the 1920s and 1930s. Could it be much earlier, or do I need to look for another number? If so, any suggestions as to where to look?

thanks in advance for any info

[Bill Kibby]

This number suggests about 1898 but, to quote my own website...

Some numbers for Allison, Aucher, Bauer, Bentley, Bluthner, Bord, Brinsmead, Broadwood, Cecilian, Chappell, Cramer, Eavestaff, Erard, Hopkinson, Jarrett & Goudge, Monington & Weston, Nelson, Perkins, Pleyel, Spencer, Schiedmayer, Steck and Wornum do not correspond with the instruments.

Julian Dyer says "The numbers generally quoted for Steck pianos are highly misleading, at least for the European production. They clearly make no sense, and do not allow for the fact that these pianos were made in three different countries using three different sets of numbers". However, some, like a 1906 example we saw recently, do seem about right.

Your only hope is date-marks inside the piano.

[chappuy]

Many thanks. I thought I had another clue as has Methven Simpson 22 Reform St, but all that does is set the earliest date to 1909 I think. Can you suggest where to look for date marks?

I agreed to give this piano a home for sentimental reasons and wasn't expecting much, but am now thinking it might be worth spending some money on it - I'm a very average pianist but a semiprofessional string player, and it would be great if a bit of work would bring it up to a level where a real pianist would be happy to play chamber music with me.

[Colin Nicholson]

Date-mark stamps are sometimes located inside the piano - often marked on the mechanism. Can be various places including the action rail brackets, action rail, side of the first piano key (bottom A).... but you need a good eye.

They may also be stamped on any one of the mechanism parts - for example, on a recent upright piano I part-exchanged (and its now stripped down) - I accidentally found a date-stamp on the bottom of the 18th lever carriage - .... so if I was just looking in general, I could have missed it, and I would have had to turn the mechanism upside down, but as I started to remove the levers - there it was!

Here is a photo ......

However...... removing a grand action requires great care, and in order to lift the keys out, you will need to remove all c.10 screws from the actions brackets - and if its a roller action, lift all hammers first before separating the movement from they keyboard.... if in doubt, ask your tuner to do it - and be careful not to break any hammers if you decide to pull the action out yourself.

[Bill Kibby]

Methven, Simpson Ltd. were certainly at 22 Reform Street from about 1909 to at least 1938.

[chappuy]

I'll take your advice and get a piano professional to have a look! Thanks to both of you for your replies