Looked at a 1906 Steinway B that had an "art case" consisiting of many
intricate brass castings and filigree all around the edge and centered on
the sides, all over the double legs, a lyre shaped like an actual lyre, etc.
Supposedly only 5 were made. (?) Someone did a quite decent job of
shimming the few short cracks in the board, which still had a bit of crown
and good sustain. Beautiful job of plate refinishing, restringing, &
repinning (4/0), but original pinblock. Also new dampers and hammers, but
original shanks & flanges. Didn't seem to need key rebushing and backchecks
and wippens were OK. Knuckles a bit flat and needed better regulation, but
sounded great! Original ivories still beautiful.
One curious side note -- from A3 on up, all the tuning pin holes are
countersunk, or beveled on top, but not all the ones below it, including the
bass. What's with that?? Maybe somebody was gonna put plate bushings but
gave up after countersinking 2/3 of the holes (for easier insertion of the
bushings)??
What I'm wondering is how much does the art case add to the value of the
piano? I know there was a discussion on this a while back, but trying to
come up with the correct "thread to search for" in the archives is usually
unfruitful for me. What format is used for that? art case + historic +
value + antique or something like that? Does it have to be the exact
subject that was in the "Subject" line of the original post(s)? Sometimes a
discussion of different kinds of epoxies can be under a thread of "bridge
repairs" or similar. I'm not sure how useful the archives are without a
detailed index, or is there one I'm unaware of?
Thanks for any info. Sincerely, David Nereson, RPT, Denver.
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