schimmel pianos

[letzgoand]

hello everyone, i just wanted to know if the (s.) schimmel i just recently bought is an original. attached is a picture of its name in the center front of the piano. thank you so much for any info.

[Colin Nicholson]

Hi
Your post would be better under a new heading, as this is about Rameau pianos, then others may reply more quickly.

At first glance, the name "Schimmel" looks partly genuine (brass inlaid), but not sure about the initial letter "S" ?
The originality of a piano far extends just a name on the fallboard or key rail, and would require a detailed face-to-face inspection, and also looking for interior markings/ names / serial number / raised iron work / decals / mechanism.... and so on. A difficult one for just a forum enquiry, and would require looking at the piano as a whole, and with all panels removed for viewing.

I have seen in the past fake-named pianos, making out to be a good name (e.g. Bosendorfer of Austria), but turned out the beautiful rosewood fallboard with the Bosendorfer name, didn't belong to the old 1910 style English upright/ over-damped piano.... and the client was quite upset when I pointed out the wood veneer was different, and the fallboard didn't belong there!

I would also possibly expect to see the Schimmel crown - above the first m - this can be seen on most genuine Schimmel grand piano soundboard decals.... so there are lots of other places to look. Or.... expect to see Wilhelm Schimmel/ or W. Schimmel somewhere. I'm not familiar with S. Schimmel. Could be genuine, could be a fake.

Hope that helps
Colin