Tolkien & Tolkien piano

[bsimyo]

Hi everyone,

My mother (in New Zealand) has an old upright piano by "Tolkien & Tolkien, London". I'm trying to find out a bit about it. There don't seem to be other names on the piano. I've searched this forum, this site, Piano Gen and the whole Internet for references to "Tolkien & Tolkien" but haven't been able to find anything.

I assume that one of the Tolkiens is Henry Tolkien (as he was based in London, unlike J.B. Tolkien who was based in Birmingham). I've seen from a genealogical site at http://www.geni.com/people/George-Tolki ... 9998303411 (I'm not sure how reliable the info is) that Henry had a brother Septimus who's profession was "Pianoforte maker" and who also lived and died in London. Of Henry's children, the site lists sons William and George as having the profession of "Pianoforte employee" and son Charles as having the profession of "Manager to father (piano)". So, I assume that the other Tolkien refers to one of them. Does anyone know more?

The Clinkscale book "Makers of the Piano Volume 2" (go to http://books.google.com.au/books?id=iqK3FPhQm5gC and search for Tolkien) gives the various names of Henry's piano company but doesn't mention "Tolkien & Tolkien". It also lists a London piano maker Alfred Tolkien.

Anyhow, I'd appreciate any information about the piano. I'm not near it right now so can't provides photos or look for numbers but will be seeing it again next weekend. My mother is moving house and can't fit it in the new one so we're trying to find out more about it and work out what to do with it.

Bill

[Bill Kibby]

Pianogen should be in one word if you viewed the new site.

I have not come across that particular name, and I doubt that Henry would have joined forces wth the others. I don't think they appeared in directories under that name, but I will check. John Benjamin Tolkien was a dealer in Birmingham, Grandfather of the famous writer J.R.R. Tolkien. Henry Tolkien was the main piano maker of the family, and he certainly sold pianos to NZ, but there was also Alfred, Henry & Septimus, who all called themselves makers. Numbers would be interesting to me, but will not help you. If you are able to post photos of the whole piano here, or email them to me to post, that will tell me a lot more than the name.

[bsimyo]

Hi Bill,

Great - thanks for that. I'll send the rest of the details (including photos) this weekend (I live in Australia but will be over in NZ then and see the piano again). By the way, I think she bought it in Australia originally but will check that too.

Bill

[Bill Kibby]

I am sorry I have only just noticed that the photos I posted disappeared.

So far, I have been unable to find any reference to the firm called Tolkien & Tolkien.

The Lexow number suggests that the piano was made around 1907, and this is a reasonable date for the piano.