Verner Lassen 1853-1883

[Valiant]

Hello Everyone,

Came across this forum and wondered if I could find any help with this piano I'm thinking of purchasing.

Trying to find the possible year this upright or square piano might have been built and possible value, all the keys play

and does not seem to be overly damaged, seems mostly cosmetic wear and a few nicks and scratches.

Any info, help or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I have a short window of opportuninty to pick it up and can't decide

till I know more about it. Being half Danish and a love for history is why I'm interested in the piece.

Thanks Val

[Barrie Heaton]

Very nice looking piano. However, we can not put a value on a piano without seeing it and pianos of that age are more difficult as they are a collectors piece.

I have moved this to the history section, Bill may be able to tell you something about its history

Barrie

[Bill Kibby]

It is interesting to see another of his pianos, I show one of his grands at
http://www.pianohistory.info/grand.html

This is a square piano, although an unusual shape, and general information on them may be found at
http://www.pianohistory.info/square.html

I am sorry that because Lassen never published any detailed information, I have no way of giving a definite date for the piano, my active research is aimed at antique British pianos, and I have no funding for foreign research, so anything that turns up is a matter of luck. My guess would be around 1866, but the name is shown differently to the 1867-style grand.

How did you arrive at the date range? Are there any numbers inside?

The most important factor deciding the value of a piano is its condition, and the most important aspect of that is whether it holds in tune, because repinning and restringing will cost over a thousand pounds, and this is usually more than an old piano is worth. Nobody can guess the value or condition of a piano without inspecting it on the spot, and tuning it, so your local tuner is the best person to ask about that.

Here in Britain, where antique pianos are plentiful, unrestored ones have very little value, and I am offered several each year for nothing. If you delivered it to my door, I might offer you £34 as a display piece.

[Valiant]

Thanks you for your help guys. I appreciate it! The only info I could find was from a refrence from the book shown below, I also came across your web site Bill and the Danish website below, all giving the date range. As far as getting this thing down to your store... Im all the way in Southern California across the pond :) Just looking through this site I realize there is an endless amount of labor, love and expert knowledge required to bring one of these beautiful works of art and ingenuity back to life. If I had the finances I would probably pursue it just to learn something newand challenging. Cheers and Thank you for your time.

Val

[Bill Kibby]

I was just hoping you had found some independent confirmation of the dates from an original source. It would be interesting to know if there are any numbers in your piano anyway.