Duck Son & Pinker Piano

[monil_nandha]

Hi
In moving into a new house I have found an old piano in the garage. The piano says " Piano manufacturers Duck Son & Pinker 1,2,3,4,5&6 Pulteney Bridge. Bath.".

Would anyone happen to know using these details how old the piano is, does it good any retail or even historical value? It looks very old but my piano knowledge is non-existant. Just wondering if I should keep it or give it away.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

[Bill Kibby]

What would really help me is photos that show what the WHOLE piano looks like, rather than just the name. Where in the world are you?
The name was first used in 1878, the absence of the Bristol address may suggest pre-1903. My impression is that Duck, Son & Pinker were never real manufacturers, simply dealers who put their names onto pianos, as many others did. I will investigate further, I have the world's largest directory of UK piano firms here, as well as DS&P's centenary booklet. They still exist at The Music Box 38-40, Bristol Rd, Bristol · 01275 834474 and years ago they told me they had records going back over a hundred years.

[monil_nandha]

Hi

Many thanks for your reply. I don't have a full piano picture at the moment but will get some tomorrow and forward these on.

I am in Harrow, north west London in the United Kingdom. To give you some history I purchased my house from an elderly gentleman (over 90) who had lived here many years and I believe he wasn't able to take the piano with him so left it here. If it is his originally I would expect it to be very old.

Will forward the pictures and any other identifying features I can first thing tomorrow. Thanks for your help so far it is very much appreciated. It's amazing knowing DS&P are still around in Bristol.

Thanks again

[monil_nandha]

Hi

See attached some pictures I have taken. If you need any more details do let me know.

Thanks

[Bill Kibby]

Thanks for the photos, I can only guess it might be from around 1890.
If you want to search inside it for clues, have a look at
http://www.pianohistory.info/datemarks.html

[monil_nandha]

Wow that's great to hear on how old it is and thanks for the additional link.

Is it common to have piano's from around the 1890's or is this quite unique?

[Bill Kibby]

There are lots of pianos from about 1890-1910 in England, no value in most of them if you were selling, and many of them are untuneable, so purely museum display material.
It's the sort of thing that is often offered for donation to my collection, but not always worth the delivery cost.
At the moment, nobody is allowed to go anywhere.