Luff & Son with tapestry panels

jessy · Post by **jessy** » 12 Aug 2005, 22:28

Hello, Would you know anything about our family piano? It is an upright with the following seal painted on the inside of the key-cover:

Patent.
George Luff & Son,
Manufacturers,
103,Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury.
London

There is also tapestry paneling on the entire front of the piano (including below the keyboard, above the pedals). I haven't found a serial number yet, but I saw somewhere on the Web that Luff was at Russell St until 1861 (?). I'd appreciate any help you could lend. Thanks!
Jessy

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 12 Aug 2005, 23:23

I have a few pages about Luff, they became Luff & Son around 1846, and ceased trading around 1862, so it could be 1861, I only know it was 1861-1863. Although numbers might be of interest to me, they won't help in dating the piano, and the best estimate I have so far is the mean date "circa 1854". See
http://www.uk-piano.org/piano-gen/reports.html

jessy · Post by **jessy** » 17 Aug 2005, 21:45

Thanks for your reply!
We have found 2 sets of numbers on this Luff & Sons piano. Please let me know if either of these enable you to tell us anything more about the piano?:

The first number is on the bass side, on the iron frame, just above the tuning pins: 1298.

The second is on a paper label inside on the treble end, but the paper is ripped and we aren't sure if more numbers should follow; however the numbers showing are 6753.

Do you know anything about the significance of the tapestry paneling? Was this a common way to decorate pianos? We are trying to determine whether the piano would be of particular interest to a museum or anything. (we're located in Canada). Do you have any suggestions for further research?

Lastly, you wrote that Luff & Sons commenced trading in 1846; I saw the date 1851 on something I read. (copied below). thought you might be interested in what I was able to find (which isn't much!):

[start]
G. Luff and Son (1851-61)
George Luff and Sons of 103 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury around 1851 and then 7 Caroline Mews, Bedford Square in 1861 exhibited a harmonium and the Albert Cottage piano-harmonium at the London Exhibition in 1851. Luff was also an agent for Debain, the famous Paris harmonium maker. [end]

At any rate, I wasn't sure how you came to the 1854 date you provided? (sorry, I'm really new at this!)
Thanks again for your help!
Jessy

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 17 Aug 2005, 22:22

1854 is the MEAN date - the average between the earliest and latest possible dates. We have catalogues of the Great Exhibition, 1851, so are aware of that item, but thanks anyway. The tapestry panels are fairly common around the 1850s, though some examples are not original. No dates of numbers are available, but these may prove useful to me later.