Burdett upright grand piano

carrot · Post by **carrot** » 22 Aug 2005, 04:19

My mother and I have been doing a lot of searching for any information on our piano and have had no luck at all with it.

The piano is a Burdett upright grand and has very pretty wood and mother of pearl inlay on the front of it. The serial number is 14499 and there is another number on the top of the left side under the lid "494".

It also has a bunch of different medals painted on it. On the inside one says "Diploma for Gold Medal, Glasgow International Exhibition, 1901". By the name Burdett there are also the following medals: "Highest Award Gold Medal, Hawick and Glasgow" and other medals from 1893-94 and 1896-97.

We had a piano tuner look at it a while ago and he figures from the medals that it was Scottish made, but had never heard of one by this maker before. It also was refinished many years ago and looks like it used to have candle holders and a fold down music holder.

Any help would be greatly appreciated on the history of this maker and piano! Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera so it would take a while for me to develop and scan some pictures.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 22 Aug 2005, 06:27

There were several american firms named Burdett, but the scottish one hasn't turned up in my files over the years, and the pianos remain a mystery: This usually means that it is an alias applied to pianos from an anonymous wholesaler, some or all sold by Thomson in Glasgow.

carrot · Post by **carrot** » 22 Aug 2005, 07:00

Thanks for the info, it gives me a better idea of its origins.