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Serial Number 5949 - a
collector's piece.
Museum-quality and
exceptional, this unique Broadwood Cottage Pianoforte, Patent Boudoir Model,
Upright Piano, built in 1844, is functional as well as well as an amazing
piece of history.
Nine years before Steinway & Sons was
founded this piano was built by the oldest pianomaker in the world - John
Broadwood & Sons in their Horseferry Road, London workshops and shipped from
there in a special packing case by way of the Great Western Railway from
Paddington Station to Hodge Brothers, a dealer in Bristol on 19th October,
1844.
It was the most expensive
upright instrument made by Broadwood that year, retailing at £80 guineas
(about £60,000 in today's money).
Veneered in Hungarian Ash,
the elegant cabinet with a six octave keyboard supported on columns
surmounted with acanthus leaves has an very unusual curved base and two
wooden pedals.
The top and bottom doors have
fretted inserts backed with what appears to be the original pink silk
lining.
The back posts are also
veneered in Hungarian Ash and the back has the original knifepleated and
boxpleated fabric.
The keys are original ivory
which is in excellent condition and the fronts are boxwood.
This wooden-framed piano is
strung bichord throughout and this coupled with the small hammers gives the
instrument a sweet, soft tone and a true unachorda when the soft pedal is
used.
The soundboard and bridges
are in good condition and the original oblong pins are tight. The cabinet
has some signs of woodworm around the legs, but this is old and has been
treated and does not detract from the overall breath-taking look of the
instrument. The cabinet has been cleaned, the action removed and checked and
some very minor conservation work has been done but this instrument is in a
near-original condition.
All the notes play and the
piano is currently in tune with itself, but below pitch.
Please click on any of the
pictures to see a large version in a new window.
World-wide shipping is
available for this instrument - please enquire.
See and hear this piano
in the video below.
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