Exporting a piano

[Jenni]

Hello - I am attempting to export my grandmother’s 1960 Welmar Baby Grand piano to the USA (rather than have it go to ruin). It has ivory keys and a mahogany veneer casing, so I am applying for endangered species (CITES) exemption certificates for (possibly) both of these two materials. However, I am unable to answer a couple of the questions being posed to me by the CITES office, but it seems that the office is willing to accept the opinion of an expert. Would any of you be able to help me?

Following is the CITES response to my application:

QUESTION 1. Please clarify how the species of elephant that the ivory keys are derived from was determined.
I have assumed that we have African elephant ivory on our keys (rather than Asian elephant ivory). Are you able to confirm that this would have been the usual case in 1960? Is there a way for me to find that out?

QUESTION 2. There are three species of mahogany (Swietenia spp.) which are CITES listed species. Swietenia mahogoni, Swietenia macrophylla and Swietenia humilis. Finished products derived from Honduran mahogany (Swietenia humilis) would require CITES permits to be re-exported. Please clarify the specific species of mahogany which this piano contains.
Are you able to help me with which type of mahogany might have been used for a casing in 1960?!

In case you need a visual of our piano, below is a photograph:
image0.jpeg

Thank you!
Jennifer Abel

[Barrie Heaton]

In the UK, we only used African ivory because Indian ivory is too brittle.
If you need a DNA test, Lancaster University will do that.

Your main problem is that the piano needs to be pre-1975 for Ivory and endangered woods, the only one in the UK at the moment on the endangered list is Brazilian rosewood. So long as you register it and it's pre-1975, you're fine for the UK, the USA not so sure. Getting the origin of Wood is difficult again, a sample would have to be sent away. As Welmar Piano worked closely with Bluthners, you could ask Bluthner UK where they sourced the mahogany in the 60s. However, they were in East Germany then. or track down Roger Willson the last MD of Welmar, try Facebook or ask Bluthners UK to send a request to him
To Prove the date, you just need the serial number of the piano to match a pre-1975 with Welmars numbers which are published.
https://www.piano-tuners.org/welmar/index.html


Barrie

[Jenni]

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. I will see what I can establish for the CITES office!
Jenni

[Barrie Heaton]

Much of the mahogany used in the UK was from the West Indies and Africa because it was used as ballast on ships. Human cargo was quite light, so it was needed, but the ships going back to Africa were loaded with British goods, so ballast was not needed.

See
https://blog.thakehamfurniture.co.uk/20 ... e-ships-3/
and
https://www.stairgalleries.com/news-ins ... s/6-20-22/

Barrie