Broadwood miniature square piano 1796 ser. no. 3295; a colle...

Estimate

£400 - £800

Broadwood miniature square piano 1796 ser. no. 3295; a collectable and rare instrument with painted flowers on satinwood fascia board inscribed John Broadwood and son, Great Pulteney Street, Golden square, Patent London 1790 with further inscription inset into key baton Mary A. Crawley 1913; mahogany case with one line of inlaid stringing and mouldings all around the piano including spine, the forty-one note keyboard, two notes more than three octaves, F-a2, with ivory naturals and ebony accidentals, single action with peacock underdampers, no stand, two large brass handles on case at either side, 99.2cm wide, 41cm deep
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** Ivory submission reference U4SLL1PX

More Information

Case: left back corner of lid previously repaired but needs colour matching. Lengthways cracks repaired and secured with butterfly inserts. Later chunky music plat on lid flap. Lock extant but no key.

Structure: hitch plank coming away from case side a little, could be that this still holds well under tension but cannot be guaranteed. Original hitch cloth and listing material.

Soundboard and strings: soundboard and bridge (well glued still) are in very good condition. Possibly one or two original strings with typically long 'Broadwood style' eyes are extant, but the majority are replacements. Wrest pins (tuning pins) all extant except for three, two slightly larger modern replacements have been provided and left in the left hand box and larger holes drilled to accept these in the wrest plank treble end, a handful have been drilled through for ease of fitting replacement strings, but these still look sturdy enough to re-use and fit the new strings in the original way.

Action: single action with peacock underdampers. The head of the top damper has broken off and missing, although could have fallen into the keywell. Possibly some dampers hold the original damping cloth. Complete set of hammers with possibly original leathers on most.


Observations noted in the condition report are based on obvious signs to the naked eye from an experienced restorer. They are designed for quick analysis of their condition, leaving interested parties to carry out their own personal inspection. Please note that actions have not been removed from instruments.