At 11:57 -0400 26/08/2010, Sheila Holcomb wrote: >(photos >here:Ê<http://www.flickr.com/photos/23869082@N03/sets/72157624687893411/>http://www.flickr.com/photos/23869082@N03/sets/72157624687893411/Ê) > >Sporer, Carlson & Berry Upright, No. 1571 >No year listed in the atlas, but the company made pianos from 1860-1915 > >My first guess from the color and rough grainÊtextureÊwould be oak, >but I have never seen this sort of dramatic curl pattern in oak. > >Anyone else seen this look before? Never! It's very striking isn't it. To me it looks more like ash, but I have never seen ash cut like that. I guess it's possible. >Also, any guesses on age? 1889 >The other weird thing is that at first I thought it had been >refinished, due to the light color compared to the color under the >lid, but then I notice the the crazing in the finish is still there. >Is there any way someone lightened the finish without removing the >crazing? That's easy. The wood or the polish/varnish or both were originally dyed with a reddish dye, for example Bismarck brown. Even the most expensive red dyes and stains are not completely light-fast and the cheaper ones will lose their red very quickly. Any natural red in the wood is not immune either, so that a deep rosewood will be bleached to gold with enough exposure to light. However in this case the wood itself (not containing any red) has lost nothing and the colour has gone only from the products they used to finish it. JD
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