Old Piano

[l***@gmail.com]

I hope someone here can help me out.

I recently received a piano of indeterminate age from my uncle. The
only serial number-like number I can find is 10887.

It is stamped into a horizontal brace about midway up the piano
accessible by opening the front, under the keyboard. Pulling out the
action reveals writing on the leftmost keys. The number 6-1234 is
repeated on two keys, followed by "H D1" and then a signature.

The harp says "Kelly" at the bottom, as well as being stamped with
"Henry F. Miller" along the right side and having a Lyre with 'Est
1863' near the bass strings.

The cover for the keyboard says, center, "Henry F Miller" and in
smaller print on the far right, "Product of the Ivers & Pond Piano
Co". The legends are in a very fancy old English style font, oustide
and in, except for the Kelly marking.

It's a compact console/spinet type of piano with straight, rounded and
patterned legs, as opposed to the cabriole legs I have seen on
pictures of Henry Miller pianos.

Interestingly, the piano only has two pedals (volume and sustain).

If anyone has any information on this piano, I would greatly
appreciate the help. Information on the internet is fairly limited,
and has led me only to know that this is not a piano of the original
Ivers and Pond manufacture, because every reference to those pianos
includes a heavy cast-iron frame.

[ragtimebill]

Post by l***@gmail.com
I hope someone here can help me out.
I recently received a piano of indeterminate age from my uncle. The
only serial number-like number I can find is 10887.
It is stamped into a horizontal brace about midway up the piano
accessible by opening the front, under the keyboard. Pulling out the
action reveals writing on the leftmost keys. The number 6-1234 is
repeated on two keys, followed by "H D1" and then a signature.
The harp says "Kelly" at the bottom, as well as being stamped with
"Henry F. Miller" along the right side and having a Lyre with 'Est
1863' near the bass strings.
The cover for the keyboard says, center, "Henry F Miller" and in
smaller print on the far right, "Product of the Ivers & Pond Piano
Co". The legends are in a very fancy old English style font, oustide
and in, except for the Kelly marking.
It's a compact console/spinet type of piano with straight, rounded and
patterned legs, as opposed to the cabriole legs I have seen on
pictures of Henry Miller pianos.
Interestingly, the piano only has two pedals (volume and sustain).
If anyone has any information on this piano, I would greatly
appreciate the help. Information on the internet is fairly limited,
and has led me only to know that this is not a piano of the original
Ivers and Pond manufacture, because every reference to those pianos
includes a heavy cast-iron frame.

Well, the number 10887 is not the serial number, are you sure you are
not missing a digit? The Henry F. Miller Piano Company was founded in
1863 in Boston, and that number would equate to about 1880-85.
However, Ivers and Pond did not take the company over until 1949
(actually, it was the Aeolian Company who owned the name along with
that of I&P and dozens of other names of pianos they had acquired
since the Depression. They continued to grind out low- and mid-range
pianos for many years with the names of formerly high-quality makers
that they had bought).

Check the back of the piano near the top for a number stamped in the
wood, that will probably be the serial number, and it will allow the
piano to be dated.

-Bill Rowland
Broken Arrow, OK