Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Ask questions on piano history and the age of your piano.

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helpread26
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Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by helpread26 »

I am trying to determine what year my upright piano was made. It is a Kirkman & Sons of London. The address "3 Soho, London" is on the inside along with the # 39967. There is also a Crane and Sons warehouse address and number.
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Bill Kibby
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by Bill Kibby »

As you can read at
http://pianogen.org/numbers.html
the numbers for Kirkman pianos became very strange when they were taken over by Collard & Collard. It is impossible to tell the 1890s from the 1920s, and the published information is wrong! The same page contains information about C&S numbers.

There may be a date-mark inside the piano, see
http://pianogen.org/datemarks.html

If you could post photos of the whole piano here, or email them to me to post, I may be able to assess the age more accurately.
Piano History Centre
http://pianohistory.info
Email via my website.
If you find old references or links on this site to pianogen.org, they should refer to pianohistory.info
helpread26
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by helpread26 »

So sorry, I have tried to attach pictures of the piano, but I keep being informed that the image is invalid. Is there an email address I can send them to?
Thank you.
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Bill Kibby
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by Bill Kibby »

I did answer your email but your system is blocking it as spam. My email address is below, but you will have to tell your system to accept the emails from me.

Alternatively, the images you tried to post are probably too big, do you know how to reduce them to 25% before you post them?
Piano History Centre
http://pianohistory.info
Email via my website.
If you find old references or links on this site to pianogen.org, they should refer to pianohistory.info
helpread26
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by helpread26 »

I have reduced them. Let's see if this works.
Attachments
Piano 002.JPG
Piano 001.JPG
helpread26
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by helpread26 »

I emailed the pictures. Please let me know if you have a problem viewing them.
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Bill Kibby
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by Bill Kibby »

Thanks, this is one of those occasions when the published information is about right. I estimated the piano around 1889, so the published date 1887 is probably correct. In spite of the fact that it is Victorian, and not Edwardian, information about this type of piano can be found at
http://pianogen.org/edwardian.html
Piano History Centre
http://pianohistory.info
Email via my website.
If you find old references or links on this site to pianogen.org, they should refer to pianohistory.info
helpread26
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Re: Kirkman & Sons of London Piano

Post by helpread26 »

Bill, thank you so much. You are amazing!
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