I was given an approx. 1900 Emerson upright grand piano, 57" tall.Serial 70135. It was refurbished at a time in the not too distant past. It is a real beauty,to us, and fits well into our home. It plays well but likely needs a tune after being moved. I am not certain of all that was done to it [previous owner deceased so little available info on that] but that is not relevant to us as I am not a good player and neither is my husband ..I in fact have not played since I was about 11 and I am much,much older now. We do know it had the oak case refinished and all the felts replaced ,other things too but no one in the deceased family can find the paper work. The only visible problem is that one ivory is chipped on the edge .Also the back castors are missing so we will probably get them replaced though it is on a rug so not moveable anyway but is a little bit not level.Not sure how big a problem that is.

My question is this ..what does the number in the circle below the serial number mean? In the circle is an 8 1/2 .
also previous owner thought it was 1898 but from my looking around I think it is at least 2-5 years newer than that.Does anyone know the actual age?

Now all I need to do is get my fingers to remember what they used to know.Probably will need the adult beginners forum.

Thank you in advance for any help on the number issue.

Here is a photo of the old piano as it was being moved into the house.

It certainly is a beautiful piano.

Thank you Plowboy, we think so to.
I am going to take a photo of the circle thing this afternoon , maybe if someone sees it they will know what it means.Hard to identify without a photo .