Samuel Brewer & Co piano

[kato]

Hi there

My family has a Samuel Brewer & Co piano that was brought out to Australia in the 1830s. It is a very beautiful and ornate upright piano but its wooden frame makes it more of a piece of furniture these days - tuning it is nigh-on impossible.

Do you have any idea of value and if it would be of interest to perhaps a museum?

Many thanks

[Bill Kibby]

The first thing I have to say is that there is no record of the company existing anything like as early as the 1830s. Their first entry in the London directory is 1870: Samuel Brewer & Co., 16, 17 & 18 Castle street, City road EC & 23 Bishopsgate street within EC. In 1875 they were Samuel Brewer & Co., 8 Collingwood street, City road EC & 23 Bishopsgate within EC. Are any of these addresses shown on your piano? Is it possible for you to post photos here to show what the whole piano looks like on the outside? Or you could email them to me to post. Have a look at
http://www.pianohistory.info/victorian.html
There are plenty of people enjoying having a wood-framed piano, it is mainly the tuners and dealers who want them to be destroyed. That is why they have virtually no value at all, and I am offered several each year for nothing. If you were around here, I would be happy to have it!

[Bill Kibby]

If you want to search inside the piano for clues, have a look at
http://www.pianohistory.info/datemarks.html
Otherwise, can you tell me the complete, exact wording on the piano?