Piano on death row

[bf23]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help. My parents have a piano that they are planning to chop up for fire wood in the next couple of weeks and I wanted to try and check with someone to make sure they wouldnt be making a big mistake. I have done some research on your site and I dont think it is anything special as its Victorian but I thought it was worth double checking.
It's made by Nutting, Addison and Co, and has the "Makers to the Queen and H.R.H Prince Albert" sticker on it. Its not in fantastic condition, it's missing the candle holders, has some water marks on the wood, and probably hasn't been tuned for 40 years. I have some photo's I can email if anyone is interested.
I'm not after a valuation, I know thats impossible without seeing it. We would have to remove a window in order to get it out the house now anyway. If it is chopped up do any of the parts have any use in restoration (would the keys be ivory?). Thanks for your help.
Ben`

[Gill the Piano]

I take it it's an upright? If the keys are ivory, there'll be a faint line between the skinny bit and the fat bit of the white keys. Ivory can be gently steamed off and sold on eBay. Probably the piano is only suitable for scrap, but a local INDEPENDENT tuner will tell you more.

[ATG]

Just to check, am I right in assuming that "chopping it up for firewood" implies a timber frame, not an iron one? If so, it might be old enough to be considered a late fortepiano. If not, they've still got to get the iron frame out of the window even if the timber casework is chopped up.

[Pianomate]

You won't be able to sell Ivory on Ebay now as they have stopped it, however people on this forum would be very interested.

[bf23]

It is an upright and I'm going over this weekend so will check out the keys and frame construction. Thanks for all the info.