J. B. Tolkien Piano

[darlynrh]

Greetings from Seattle, Washington! Today, we were gifted with a lovely piano and was hoping we could find more information about it.

The piano has a large plaque that reads "Established 1847 J.B. Tolkien" (and in small letters "REG'D")
There is a second plaque that reads "Sole Agents, Joseph Riley & Sons, 25 & 23 Constitution Hill, Birmingham).
On the inside it says J.B. Tolkien 12534"

We are having a tuner come in a month, after the piano has settled for a while, and maybe she'll be able to discover some other markings on the interior, and if so, I can report back.

We are fans of Tolkien the writer, and have already learned that John B. Tolkien was his grandfather, so we're very excited for this to live in our home. We'd love to know more about our particular piano though so we can share its lore with others, such as what years it may have been made, and any other fun stories that folks can share! Considering how little information I could find on the web, it seems like there aren't too many of these surviving out there and I love imagining how this piano went across an ocean and across a country over the last hundred or so years to land in our living room!

Thank you!

[chrisw]

I have also enjoyed J R R Tolkien's 'The Hobbitt' and the ring trilogy. Hopefully others can tell you about J B Tolkien pianos but your post did encourage me to use Google street view to see if the buildings at 23-25 Constitution Hill Birmingham which housed the piano dealership are still standing and I believe they are. The ground floor now houses the SND Electrical warehouse.

[darlynrh]

I have also enjoyed J R R Tolkien's 'The Hobbitt' and the ring trilogy. Hopefully others can tell you about J B Tolkien pianos but your post did encourage me to use Google street view to see if the buildings at 23-25 Constitution Hill Birmingham which housed the piano dealership are still standing and I believe they are. The ground floor now houses the SND Electrical warehouse.

Thanks for the idea. I love that the building is still standing - and it is quite lovely.

[chrisw]

Darlynrh, have you seen this post ?
https://www.piano-tuners.org/piano-foru ... hp?t=10681

[darlynrh]

Darlynrh, have you seen this post ?
https://www.piano-tuners.org/piano-foru ... hp?t=10681

Interesting, looks like there are a few previous posts but none seemed exactly on point. I don't know if there is a way to tag Bill Kibby from that post who seemed to know a little more about the serial numbers.

Thanks for your continued help! :)

[Bill Kibby]

John Benjamin Tolkien was a dealer in Birmingham, Grandfather of the famous writer J.R.R. Tolkien. I have no evidence that John made pianos, but he was a piano retailer.
Henry Tolkien was the main piano maker of the family, but there was also Alfred, Henry & Septimus, who all called themselves makers. Just like modern Yellow Pages, old directories will sometimes lump firms together under slightly inaccurate headings such as "Pianoforte Makers" simply because they have no more suitable heading available.
I have some serial number dates for Henry's pianos, but these don't help with John's.

[darlynrh]

Thanks Bill!

Our piano tuner is here today and I got some pictures of the piano while it was opened up. Thought I'd share here in case there was interest: Pics on Instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT_Ae0nJhqH ... _copy_link

SHe was able to tune it (mostly) but it is very flat, and needs some work. The dampers seem to be interfering with some of the keys which only play with the pedal pressed. She's had naver workind on this type of piano so is going to inquire with some of her contacts to see if someone else can take on this project.