California 1852

[Les Smith]

On Thu, 22 Jan 1998, Anne Beetem wrote:
>        What evidence do we have of what type of pianos in California in
> 1852?   I have direct knowledge of an 1859 cast iron frame Steinway square
> which was shipped around South America by boat and still resides in the San
> Francisco Bay area.   I know what types of pianos were being produced in
> the U.S. then.   A lot happened in those 7 years though in California and
> it was still quite rough in 1852.   Information anybody?

In February's "Reader's Digest", on page 134, is an article entitled
"I've Found Gold" which details the California gold strike in 1849 and
provides some information on living and travel conditions at the time.
The overland journey from the East took about six months--and that was
for someone traveling alone, not someone hauling a piano along, too!

I recently saw a small "child's" Chickering square piano on cable being
evaluated by an appraiser from Sotheby's. The piano, which dated from the
late 1850's had a three octave span, no pedal lyre, and shortened, non-
standard-length keys. The small piano had a faux-rosewood finish and
sounded like your typical piano that hadn't been tuned in 150 years!

Les Smith