ERARD piano saved from the landfill

[wesseltoft]

Today I got a call from a friend telling me he just saw an ERDAR piano being left at the landfill. I rushed over and got a look at it. Its not in a perfect shape, and its quite out of tune, but I believe it will be back to where it used to be if it gets some work on it.

However, I have no idea what the model is and when it is from, could you help me out?

http://imgur.com/a/JTrM8#rpHZIpd

Cheers,
Fridtjof Wesseltoft

[Bill Kibby]

I think your typing suffers the same problem as mine, "all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order". This is an ERARD, the most famous Paris maker, and although that doesn't guarantee any cash value, it is interesting to me as a piece of history.

The representation of a medal celebrates awards they received at exhibitions in 1851 and 1855. This only tells us that it was made after 1854, as explained at
http://pianohistory.info/exhibition.html

I'd guess it would be late 1800s, but it is difficult to see any firm clues in the photos. If you can see any numbers inside, especially near the top, these may help...
http://pianohistory.info/numbers.html

If you want to search for clues inside the piano, have a look at
http://pianohistory.info/datemarks.html

[Olek]

Hello, it looks like the mod 9 7 octaves,1.14 m without original legs .

if smaller 1.04 could be a late model n°7

Got that from pictures of catalogs in the book "La maison Erard" from René Beaupain

Impressive ivories as they used at those times. The keys have been bleached an polished, may be rebushed too at some point.

ALl those type of pianos I have seen had the soundboard collapsed, despite its little surface , so no pressure from the strings and even the opposite.

The soundboard need to be deposed, dismounted and the ribs re glued in that case. That is how the job is done by restorers of historical instruments.

But yet just working on the action of those pianos necessitate a lot of experience.

Well, I wish you the best with that one. I would be happy to have some sort of collection of those sort of pianos but I need another house for that.
grand models from Erard are often on public sales for very low prices here, the verticals are not even put on sale generally.

Thanks for not leaving that poor piano in the trash .

[NewAge]

@Olek,
Bienvenue - welcome to the forum. Having read a great many of your fascinating posts on ''Pianomajeur' and elsewhere, it's good to have someone as knowledgeable as yourself to add to the technical info provided here.
I must admit to having spent many agreeable hours on your photo-blog site, and certainly learnt a lot. As they say a picture can be worth a hundred words.
I'm sure you will be a valuable contributor here.

[Olek]

Thanks so much New Age.

my heart flies as a bird !!!