Henry Schwander, Paris

[ricardoabreu]

Hi everyone! First time posting! So, a few years back an uncle gave me this piano because it is in pretty bad shape so it serves only as decoration. However I would like to know a little bit more about it's history, when and where it was made, if it was a good piano back in the day, ... Since I have no experience with pianos and no one to help me I tought I should write it here.
It has the inscription henry schwander paris piano 4888 format 4

Any help would be much aprreciated!

Thanks,
Ricardo

[Bill Kibby]

The Schwander name was more famous for making piano actions - the working parts of the notes, and Henry is thought to be the only Schwander who put his name to pianos, although we don't know if he actually made them.

Since there are very few around, most people have had no opportunity to judge what they are like as instruments, but their specification was fairly ordinary for French pianos of the late 1800s. I would guess it was made in the 1880s, but these French pianinos are often difficult to date by appearance, as explained at
http://www.pianohistory.info/victorian.html

The majority of pianos cannot be reliably dated by serial numbers, as explained at
http://www.pianohistory.info/numbers.html

[Bill Kibby]

This photo seems to suggest that Dietrich was successor to Henry Schwander, but it was probably the other way round, because the Dietrich piano seems to be 1870s, whereas some Henry Schwander pianos were made in the 1890s.

Anoter little puzzle is that "Henry" doesn't seem like a French spelling.

Sadly, Paris history isn't as easy to find as London history, as explained at
http://www.pianohistory.info/archives.html