Hopkinson Piano, Serial #4037

[kmclarkson]

Hello! The other day I acquired a J&J Hopkinson piano via Craigslist from another family here in Spokane, WA USA. I grew up with a piano in the home and as an adult have wanted one for a while now. When I saw this piano for sale, it was love at first sight. Just as a piece of furniture it is, in my opinion, breathtaking. On top of that it seems to be in good working order, though out of tune at the moment. Prior to purchasing this piano, I hadn't even heard of the manufacturer J&J Hopkinson. Honestly I'm not all that knowledgeable about pianos. The piano I grew up with was the brand name everyone knows, Steinway & Sons. Anyway, I've been doing a little research on Hopkinson pianos online these past couple of days, and have found that it's a pretty easy and straightforward matter to date them according to their 5-digit serial numbers. So I looked inside the piano, and did indeed find a 5-digit number that I assume is the serial. But now it gets a bit strange (or, what do I know, maybe it's normal for this manufacturer. As I said, I really know nothing about this company.) The strange thing is, one of the digits is centered above the other four, so that it reads like this:

2
4 0 3 7

Okay weird, right? How do I read that number? With the 2 first, as in 24037, which I believe would date it to the 1850's based on info I found online? Or with the two in the middle, because it IS centered, just centered above? In which case it would read 40237 and date to the 1880's according to that same online info? There's also a number 5, way off by itself at the other end of the piano. Any assistance with dating this piano would be much appreciated! Not interested in valuation, as first of all I paid less than $200 for it, and I secondly I bought it because I love it and intend to keep it for a long time. Just dating assistance and perhaps any other interesting trivia about this maker and/or style of piano. Oh, it's an upright, it's very petite, and it's rosewood. I have attempted to ad photos but am told they are "invalid" even though they are in the recommended JPG form. Don't know what else to do. Frustrated :( The seller said she thought it dated to the late 1910's but I think it's earlier. Any and all feedback appreciated. Thanks!

[Bill Kibby]

It's not weird, but not easy or straightforward either. If you have a look at
http://pianogen.org/numbers.html
you will see that dating pianos by numbers is not at all simple, and the Hopkinson numbers are specifically mentioned as not being reliable. A serial number would not be split onto 2 lines, so the number is 4037, probably a Model 2, although no archives survive to tell us what that means. It may be 1840s. It is unwise to assume that the first number you find is THE number, although they tended to be visible just by lifting the top.

Without photos, it is difficult to say anything about the individual piano. If you reduce the size of the photos you can probably post them here, or you can just email them to me to post. To get an idea what sort of piano it might be, have a look at
http://pianogen.org/victorian.html

[Bill Kibby]

My estimate of this typical London cottage piano would be 1867, and I have seen several with numbers around the 4000 range with likely dates close to 1870. Some say Hopkinson opened the premises at 235 Regent Street in 1869, (the address on your piano) but he was definitely there by 1860, although not in 1856. This puts the piano after 1856. He was still there in 1880.

[kmclarkson]

Thanks Bill! :-)

[kmclarkson]

Think there's any chance that's the original silk behind the fretwork? Or would the original silk likely be long gone by now?

[Bill Kibby]

The piano appears to have been thoroughly cleaned, stripped and repolished, or probably varnished. Is it silk at all? I think it is too clean to be original, and I guess it might have been pleated. Any clues on the inside?

[kmclarkson]

Well, the fabric certainly does appear to be silk; it has the texture of dupioni, or similar. Of course, there are some pretty convincing faux-silks available these days, and I'm no expert. The silk doesn't appear to be new; there's some discoloring around the edges, on the back, where it's affixed (not visible from the front through the fretwork.) But even so, yes, it appears to be in a condition that I'd think would be extraordinarily good for silk that was legitimately 100+ years old, which is why I was wondering. It's affixed with staples, which is probably not consistent with how it would have been done in the mid 1800's, I'm guessing? Just a matter of curiosity...

[Bill Kibby]

Curiosity is my life! Looking at my images from the 1860s, the ones that are restored tend to have bright, clean silks, some highly coloured, whereas the unrestored ones tend to have dull, dirty-looking beige or other neutral colours, sometimes pleated. Original advertisements of the period tend to show pleated silks.

[kmclarkson]

Thanks again! Here's another question; do the fronts of ivory keys sometimes yellow to a far more pronounced degree than the tops? The fronts of the keys are so dark, they're essentially a beige color; certainly far different from the tops, which are nice and white. The difference is so great that I had assumed the keys had lost their fronts at some point and I was looking at the wood beneath. My husband however is convinced that the fronts are ivory, just discolored. They are very smooth and satiny looking, and I swear I see wood grain, but he says ivory can have a grain to it too. The tops have no such grain though. I'll email you some close-up photos Bill, as I've just tried again to attach some images and am still not able.

[Bill Kibby]

The keys are made of boxwood or something similar, and what you see is the end grain with a coating of scotch glue, perfectly normal when the key-fronts have fallen off. Being vertical, they tend to suffer more from this problem. Key-fronts were hardly ever ivory, and from the 1860s onwards, they would usually be some early form of plastic.

[kmclarkson]

I'm so glad I found someone so knowledgeable to ask!

[Colin Nicholson]

I've just repaired & replaced a few ivory tops on an old piano last week - the top front sections (heads) tend to come loose & drop off. As Bill says, the fronts are usually like a celluloid, not ivory.... though I have see bone before. You might even find a few key fronts under the keys on the key bed like I did!

Occasionally on Ebay you see piano keys for sale. If you grab them, a piano repairer can remove them and clamp them on to your piano.... however, with the wood being on the 'end grain' - they are sometimes tough to remove. Some piano keys are made from American bass wood aswell.

To preserve your ivories, leave the lid open - a permanently closed lid tends to turn ivory yellow due to starvation of light.

On some piano keys of this period, they also had brass 'dots' inlaid - looking a bit like dominoes.... very attractive, and possibly sought after!!

For the silk backing - it looks fairly modern to me. Old backings tend to be stained, and have a musty smell. Also if you can remove the front panel, there may be some previous remnants of cloth/silk and even some old nails!

[kmclarkson]

Thank you for your feedback also, Colin. I did find, on ebay, a set of 52 faux-ivory key fronts for sale for about $20; just the fronts, which are all I'd need. It's remarkable that the tops are all still firmly in place, all perfectly white and in perfect condition; not a single one even has a chip to it! Yet I do believe they're ivory, and therefore original, because they have that tiny seam that the Victorian piano informational page, so kindly recommended by Bill, said to look for. And yet every single last one of the fronts is gone! It does make sense though, that the combination of factors, what with the fronts being a vertical surface together with the fact that they were likely made of a different substance, would cause them to fall off more readily. It would be a lot of fun to find even a couple of them hidden down in the piano somewhere as you mentioned - I hope I do! If I should purchase the replacement fronts, what sort of adhesive should I get?

It's almost a relief that the fabric is probably not original, as it's not all that attractive and now I feel free to replace it with something that's more to my liking, without worrying about damaging the piano's provenance... although, seeing as I paid $195 for it, nothing I do to it is likely to make its value much less! However, I really love this little piano and wouldn't want to do it any unintentional damage. But I've already been looking at some good quality silks in some more eye-catching colors than the current beige.

Here's an interesting aside; I did a Google image search on "Hopkinson antique piano" and one of the images that came up looked extraordinarily like my piano. The only difference was a big fat stain on the fabric, which otherwise looked identical; same beige color. I was excited to find another piano so like my own, so I clicked on the photo and was taken to an expired ebay listing from about 2 years ago. The location of the piano in the listing was Spokane WA! There could not possibly be two of those here, so it must have been my piano. So, the mystery deepens... was the stain somehow removed from the silk, or has the silk been changed since 2011? It's unimportant, but I'm having fun uncovering little bits of info here and there.

[kmclarkson]

Oh and thank you for the tip about leaving the lid open because so far I have left it closed, and was likely to have remained closed at least until I can get a tuning scheduled. I will leave it open, now, instead.

[Bill Kibby]

Incidentally, I did answer your email, but there was a mail delivery error - permanent error.

[Colin Nicholson]

If I should purchase the replacement fronts, what sort of adhesive should I get?

Personally, you are recommended to get a specialist to do the job - its not straight forward, and might end in tears! All the keys need to come out, and the mechanism - but if the mechanism is very very old & unrestored, then check with a technician first.

The 'proper' job is to glue and clamp the fronts on, (see photo) - but these are trade tools only - and this info is for general advice only for your recommendation.

Firstly, you need to measure the thickness of the new key fronts - they are usually about 1mm. Then work out if the keys will fit back in after fitting a key front (dry).
Then, all the white keys need to come out - numbering them (with the sharps) 1 - 85, in an ascending chromatic fashion.... eg A1, A#2, B3, C4 and so on.... or draw a wavy line on the top of the key wooden sections with chalk - so when you put them back, match the wavy line like a jigsaw puzzle. The keys must go back in the right order.

Also note, the key rail may be warped over the years - so good joinery skills may be needed.

You will also need to remove ALL the old glue, and file the key fronts flat. The thickness of the old glue + new glue + key front may not allow the key to fit back in. Use a vice to clamp the key, taking care not to clamp any area of the sides of the ivory.

A DIY way is to use impact adhesive - but this is not recommended as its quite thick glue, and again - you may not allow enough space at the front of the key. The fronts should be tightly clamped to the keys - and left for around 3 hours to dry each.

The proper way is to get a piano technician to do it....

1. (Photo) - you need to measure the gap between the front of the key, and the key rail. If its less than about 2mm, you may need to remove the keyrail and plane off about 1mm from the inside of the rail. (The key rail is where the lock is located)

2. Key front brass plate & clamp (trade tools)

3. Showing clamp & plate in place (key upside down) - note the back end of the clamp fits into a recessed hole where the red key bushings are located. This then allows the clamp to be tightened up.

Don't use PVA - it wont stick.

Much is in the preparation - so think carefully before you attempt this job. It might take you a couple of days.

[kmclarkson]

No worries, Bill! Colin, you've convinced me; sounds like a job for a professional!