Bechstein piano

[pianogirl540]

I have inherited an old 'C. Bechstein' piano and looking to date it. I understand it's about 1940s and is a baby (about 4'8 or so) and made in London. It's serial is 238477, but that isn't a serial that is in the atlas. Any clues?

[Bill Kibby]

When you say "baby" do you mean a baby grand? If this number appears on the front edge of the soundboard, near the treble end, it is a separate sequence, known as a belly number. A few of these are shown at
http://www.pianohistory.info/numbers.html
and suggest a date around 1903. There should be another long number in several places, and removable parts such as the music desk may be imprinted with that number, or the last 3 digits of it.
I have several different "atlases" but they don't have all the answers.