I have been an antique dealer for almost 40 years. I bought a Chickering square grand in beautiful rosewood veneer with absolutely gorgeous carved legs similar to one on that site listed above. I bought it out of a house for $300 and moved it myself with my wife and two friends. After two years in my shop, I sold it for $300. I told them they had to move it themselves. I guess that gives you some idea of value, although the piano was not restored, of course, and did not really play.

My grandfather was a tuner-tech and could rebuild or repair anything: organs, pianos, including players, nickelodians, and so on. He told me once that square grands weren't worth working on. Poor design, difficult to get parts, and so on. He even made his own parts a lot of the time (he retired in the late 50's or early 60's before so many suppplies were available. In my travels, I have seen many square grands and smaller, but similar-styled spinets gutted and made into desks. I have hated to see this, but at least the beautiful cabinetry survives in a useful way.

David, you would have loved it... Actually, it probably would have made a nice coffin.

Unrestored Pleyels , Erards and Broadwoods (European) goes to 1500 U$ till 8000$ no more (If not artcased!) ... Restored ones goes +4000 (Depending if it is some artcase it can rise it till 20.000$ or more...)

The other square is one of the long slim squares with seven legs, (7ft by 2ft) similar to a John Tallman square. This one is a Broadwood 1819. At the moment it is being made into an office desk.

Hi David,
This one looks similar to the Broadwood at the link you provided.

Broadwood 1815

Does anyone notice anything missing in this picture???

Hi David,

I haven’t seen you around for a while; good to see you posting.

We have a specialist in UK who restores them. She had a 4 year waiting list at the last count. Their value after restoration is mostly the same as the cost of the restoration.

But I guess "all you need" is a buyer (someone whose wife falls in love with it).

No doubt this depends on the individual piano and its desirability/scarcity. The market situation in the UK may be different than in N. America, where we see far too many very large squares that were built until fairly late (1880s). These often had more of a value as a piece of furniture than an instrument when they were new. I can see there being demand and therefore value for e.g. an 1820 Broadwood. But I can't see a large 1880s American no-name brand square having a value equal to the cost of restoration which can easily be upward of $10,000. But I guess "all you need" is a buyer (someone whose wife falls in love with it).