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We have the above-mentioned piano in our family, and our family originally bought it in 1904 in Jacksonville, Fla. It now is with my mom in central Florida, where it has been since the 1930s. It's in need of restoration, and we are at a point where nobody in the family has room for it or resources to restore it. It's a beautiful piano in terms of looks, and from what I can tell on the Internet, these pianos were considered "excellent" when they were made.

If we want to sell it "as is," what would be the best place to do that? I am going to have my mom take photos of it sometime soon to use in any advertising we put together for the piano, and I'm wondering if we need to pay a piano technician to come and give us a "professional" opinion as to the piano's condition so that we can include that in any advertisement we put together.

Is Ebay the best way to go? Or should we be trying to find an antiques place or a piano store to sell it for us?

Thanks!

Patty

Chickering does have its devotees; read the book A Romance on Three Legs, for example, to learn how Gould would compare every piano do his beloved childhood Chickering. And people do restore these pianos. So it may command more than other un-restored 5'8" pianos from that era, especially if the case is nice.

As a new old Chickering devotee, I would imagine most of those musicians who would go to the trouble of having an Antique Piano would not choose the Quarter Grand. That's not to say that there isn't a market for "furniture" grands and especially the ones that will fit in your living room rather than take it over. The other side of that coin is that the economy stinks and the amount of work needed to restore this fine piano to pristine condition can possibly not provide any return on investment. More of a financial gamble than most people are willing to take.

Thank you for your responses. It is a lovely piece of furniture, if nothing else, and fits in my mom's living room fairly well right now, but she is redoing the house and doesn't believe there will be room for it with the new furniture. She intended for my older sister to have the piano, but her house is even smaller, so that doesn't seem to be an option; my sister was a music major in college and has a piano she plays daily, and she doesn't have room for a second piano that is not in playing condition.

I'm out in Texas, and I imagine the price to move such a heavy piano from Florida to Texas would be fairly high.

Do you think it's worth paying someone to give us a "condition" report to use when advertising it for sale, or should be just decide on a price and list it without having anything like that prepared?

Thrill,

What you say is true. Gould's piano was a Chickering. But it was an 1895 instrument and their smallest instruments at the time were in the 6 ft. range, and in comparison to the quarter grand, had huge structural timbres. The Quarter Grand was made to be slim, petite, and diminuative in appearance and did not have the same presence as most other Chickering pianos.

Having said that, a layperson with little knowledge of the company beyond reading about them might come to the conclusion that any Chickering would be preferred by Gould.

The case design on the Quarter Grand was very pretty so that will help the value of the piano.

My 2 cents,

I happened to play and old quarter grand recently. I had never seen a grand so lightly built--there was only one brace in addition to the rim and belly rail. I also thought its tone was mediocre in every respect--it just didn't seem to have the sonic potential of an old Steinway, Baldwin, or Knabe, just to name some examples.

Now I'm discouraged. My mom is in a very small town in central Florida; I can't imagine her finding anyone locally to buy the piano. I wonder if there is some group we could donate the piano to, if it's not actually very valuable? But I'm not sure any group would want a piano that's in need of restoration.

I have done a lot of restoration to a couple of Quarter Grands several years ago. They are decent instruments, but there are quirks to their construction. The problem now is that it is usually less expensive to buy a newer or even new piano of equivalent quality.

That diminutive size was both their charm and their curse. Chickering went overboard to make these pianos as narrow and slender as possible. This gave them an appearance unmatched by any other piano of the day. There have been a few piano makers who have attempted to emulate the slender aesthetic and size of these pianos, but not many.

But some of the design and engineering compromises that were made to achieve this size and shape also made them some difficult to service. Many technicians prefer the pianos they work on to be straight forward and simple and do not take kindly to the somewhat awkward layout of these actions. Chickering also tended to use unconventional action designs and parts making action work even more, shall I say, unusual.

Having been built in 1904 it is likely that this piano is now in need of fairly extensive work to make it playable at a high level. It is true that in their original configuration they are not big, powerful sounding pianos. They were not intended to be such. They were intended to be wonderful little pianos that would fit into a smallish sort of room and not dominate. They were intended to produce a beautiful, warm and dynamic sound that is not always treasured by the modern pianist who is both half deaf and used to the hard, more strident sound of the so-called “modern” piano.

These are quirky pianos and are not for everyone. Still, I have yet to encounter an owner who didn’t just love their piano. Yes, at its age it will probably need rather extensive restoration work and this won’t be cheap. But, when the work is competently done, the result is a piano with an aesthetic balance that cannot be found in today’s new piano market for any price. And with just a little tweaking of the original design they can easily hold their own against most any new piano of similar length.

I might also mention that I’ve encountered ever so many folks who have wished they had never let the family piano go. The situations are usually something like yours and they just sell it or give it away and then it’s gone. In a few months or years there is usually someone who wishes they had kept it.

ddf

I do love that sound!! I treasure it when/if I hear it.

I think the biggest problem right now with selling a piano like that is the current state of the piano market. As Rich, Del, and BDB have said, the piano will very likely need a lot of work, and that will cost a lot of money. With piano prices on the the private market in the toilet right now, I think it will be very unlikely someone will want to spend any money on a rebuilding candidate. IMO, it's unfortunate; I hate to see a piano that was once virtually a work of art go to waste. (I'm also a Chickering fanboi)

Good luck. I hope you find someone who would love that piano. Maybe if you happen across someone who was willing to have it rebuilt, you could give it to them. :shrug:

Thank you all for your input about this piano. I have learned so much about the piano from reading your responses!

I personally feel that I'll regret it if the piano does leave the family, since our family has owned it since the day it was put on the showroom floor, but I am probably the only one who would have room for it, and I'm out in Texas, while the piano is in Florida. Does anyone have a guess as to how much it would cost to move a quarter grand piano that far? If it's fairly reasonable, maybe I'll bite the bullet and have it moved out here. Perhaps one day, I could come up with the money to properly restore it, and in the meantime, it is an interesting conversation piece.

I am thrilled to report that my sister has decided she can make room for this piano at her house after all. It may not be restored anytime soon, but at least it is staying in the family! She found a local piano services company that would move the piano from mom's house to her house for $140, so it will be moved next week.

Thanks again for all the interesting information you provided.

Somewhere down the line someone in your family will be grateful.

ddf

My sister took a picture of the piano today. Thought I would try to share it here so you could all see it.

(Sorry, it took me a few tries to get that picture to show up right!)

That's a beautiful piano. I hope you get it rebuilt to its former glory some day.

Before you spend the $140 on the move to your sister's house, get a good local technician to check it over. It may be smarter to move it to the technician's shop for some work, and then to your sister's house. It depends on what it needs and how much you want to put into it right now. Since your sister plays a lot, a playable second piano may be nice to have for variety of touch and sound. The bad economy works to your advantage in this, a lot of good techs have time to spare.

I think that is what is going to happen. The man who is coming to move the piano is from this place:
http://www.campionemusic.com/home.html

They do have technicians and also do restoration work. I think after he sees the piano, we should at least have an idea of what's what.

Adding a few more pictures ...