Piano signed by Henry Wood

[timh]

I have a Collard & Collard Boudoir Grand serial number 194217.
Inside the piano it has been signed by Henry Wood.
Expert advice believe the signature to be genuine.

Can any one throw any light on why Henry Wood would sign a piano?

Thanks

[Bill Kibby]

Same reasons as J.S.Bach or Franz Liszt etc.. It might have been his piano, or more likely, someone may have asked him to sign their piano if he played it, or he could conceivably have had a business arrangement to sign a batch of pianos for the makers.

Sometimes, people fake famous signatures on pianos, to try to make them more valuable, and the internet makes it easier to find a genuine signature and copy it. You can even print it on transfer paper and apply it.

The number suggests that your piano was made around 1935, does that seem likely?

[timh]

Thanks-you very much for your prompt reply.

The piano has been in the family since 1935 - pretty unlikely to be a fake as they had no reason to insert a fake signature!

The piano was purchased in Edinburgh from R.W.Pentlamd Ltd of 28 Frederick Street.

Thanks again..

[Bill Kibby]

In that case, I can only imagine that your family had a visit from Henry Wood, and got him to sign the piano?

[mji]

Apologies for the long gap since the original post. I have only recently stumbled upon it.

I have a similar Collard & Collard piano from the 1930s signed by Henry Wood.

However, we also have a ‘Certificate of Authenticity’.

This Certificate is in two parts, firstly a guarantee from Collard & Collard – naming the piano by its Pianoforte No., and secondly a signed, numbered (ours is number 9), and witnessed statement from Henry Wood saying, ‘I, Sir Henry J. Wood, have personally examined this instrument, and find both in tone and touch that in every way it conforms to the highest standard …….. ‘.

I would think that your original contributor could be confident that the signature on their piano is genuine.

Our piano tuner recently observed that the signatures on the Certificate and the piano are not totally identical, leading him to conclude that they are genuine signatures and not the application of a rubber stamp/transfer.

[Bill Kibby]

The certificate of authenticity was quite normal, my Names page at pianohistory.info mentions them, but I haven't come across the other part connecting it with Henry Wood. It almost seems to imply that he checked the piano himself, and then signed it. One imagines he may have had better things to do with his time, but perhaps it was part of a sponsorship contract with Collard & Collard.

[Valk]

I too have a Collard and Collard 1930’s piano with a Henry Wood signature. I researched and found that he was at college with a local musician with whom he kept in touch. I assumed that this was the reason the piano was signed. Seems I was wrong!

[pianola.co.nz]

From Henry J. Wood: Maker of the Proms (Arthur Jacobs, 1994)

Printed programmes at Hull carried his testimonial for a brand of pianos - "Every Collard & Collard 5-ft. grand is tested and approved by Sir Henry J. Wood and bears his signature".