one fine day I had a used piano delivered to my home and upon recieving it I noticed quite dirty ivories- so i cleaned them and thought no more of it.

another fine day I was happliy playing my piano when i noticed, the ivories were getting dirty as I played the piano.

my hunch is the piano was refinished and the sharps were repainted and it is the paint that
is spreading.

has anyone run into this or something like this?

I am wondering if there any sugestions to stop this spread?

thank you

Papageno, if you really want to hear some 'tales of the unexpected'...find a piano tech...

Take a very lightly moistened (practically dry) paper towel, give'em a rub, see what happens.

It can probably be sealed, if that's the problem.

Maybe they used shoe polish.

l am in the process of restoreing a bechstein upright.sometime in its 110years,someone has painted the sharps with some hideous concoction .l removed the finish on my buffing machine,l will presume you dont have a buffer so l will offer a couple of sollutions.if like keith has sugested someone has used boot black you will need to use a cloth with a small amount of white spirit and plenty of "elbow grease",if its realy thick you can use the finest grade of wire wool again with a small drop of white spirit.you may find that if they are poor quality sharps not made from ebony they may not be nice and black,you can apply a quallity oil stain such as "napha black"or "jacobean oak" to re vitalise the colour and when dry give them a good rub with a furniture wax(not a spray).

Some people just naturally get keys dirtier than others. I have seen black keys covered in sebum so thick that needs to be scraped off.

POssible that the sharps were sanded then stained with a water base dye and not sealed with any topcoat. Abit of polyurethane rubbed on with a cloth and let dry will seal them up.