Erard Patent 14943 Upright piano

[paulstack1]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me how old this piano is, that my neighbour decided to dispose of by breaking into pieces. It has Erard patent 14943 on the board where the strings are.


Thanks.

[Bill Kibby]

Does it say whether it was made in London or Paris? The numbers are quite different. Paris might be 1841, London might be 1875. However, dating pianos purely on the basis of numbers can be misleading, and there are some very wrong quotes about these on the internet.

Would you be able to post some photos her, or email me, to show what the whole piano looks like?

[paulstack1]

Unfortunately, its in pieces, here is the number.

[Bill Kibby]

This would be a London Erard of about 1874, straight-strung - the strings are in roughly parallel vertical lines, whereas the Paris ones were usually obliquely strung.

Here in Britain, even the complete unrestored pianos of this age have very little value, and although I try to rescue some from destruction, I am getting nowhere with trying to get funding for a proper museum building for our unique collection.

You have obviously looked at this as I would, and thought what a waste to break it up, but sadly, there is nowhere to put pianos like this, and we will soon reach a point where people cannot go and look at Victorian pianos, because none of the museums want them. I'd be happy to have it on display in bits, but we have no space.

[Colin Nicholson]

Might I suggest you advertise the piano on Gumtree (its free) for "spares & repairs" of some of the mechanism parts you have left. Possibly offer 'buyer collects' ?
Occasionally a local piano restorer may be interested in the following:-

Ivory key top tails & heads (key wood would become kindling)
Ebony key tops
A few undercarriages/ hammer butts & flanges
Remaining hammer heads (cut off from the shanks)
Spare hammer flanges
About £20 - £30 for the lot!

Remove the strings & bridges, and you could make a nice coffee table! .... seen that done before.

[paulstack1]

Thanks for the information Bill, I would have just liked to have a piece of 150 year old craftsmanship in my house, even if it wasn't in tune, I don't play piano anyway. It's a shame so many get broken up. One final question, on the side of the first key the name hwarren is imprinted and on the side of the last key jcallaghan is imprinted, Are these the piano makers?

[paulstack1]

Thanks for the suggestion Colin, I was wondering whether a restorer would be interested in what's left, although there may not be many restorers in the rural South west of Ireland, how the piano made it here I don't know. I have the complete set of keys, all the ivories are intact, but they look so well I might hold onto them and try make a decorative piece from that section of piano.

[Bill Kibby]

These would be senior workers stamping their name as a sort of quality control.

[vernon]

The various tradesmen in a piano factory; polishers.backmakers, markers 0ff, tuners and finishers and regulators often had their own stamp that they would affix with some pride to their work.
I still do it but have still never found any of my juvenile works of art.