Wing & Sons piano serial number

[Randall Glidden]

I am currently working on an old Wing & Son upright and am having trouble
locating a serial number. There is no number engraved on the plate, the
pinblock, or anywhere else that I've been able to find.  However keys 1 and
2 have the numbers 13684 writen in pencil on the top rear of each key.
According to the Pierce Piano Atlas, if that is the serial number it would
have been built between 1880-1885, however patent dates on the plate are as
recent as 1892 and the patent engraved on the pedal assembly says 1894. I
have a Wing Piano ad from an 1896 magazine that shows this exact style piano
("Style 7"), so mid 1890's seems a better bet. In addition a date on the
action (also written in pencil) is "10/12/94"--could be 1994 but the "2" is
an old style "curvy" 2 so could be 1894, and I have heard that the
manufacture date was often written on the action frame in this manner. I
have a copy of Wing's catalog/piano book from 1898, and at that time they
had moved on to newer style pianos (i.e. style 7 was no longer available in
1898.)

All the above would indicate a piano built between 1894 and 1898, but the
serial number thing confounds me a bit.

Any thoughts from masses?

Many thanks,

Randy Glidden
Boston Chapter PTG
Associate Member