Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum HELP J.M. Schweighofer in Wien piano - serial number 1558

Help needed,

After couple of days on web I hope that you can help me figure out which piano I have ?
I can not figure out its age, model, value or anything else.
According to data I have found it should be around 1847 year.

I will provide all data that I found relevant but feel free to ask if I did missed something.

Serial number of piano is 1558
Dimensions are 228 x 137 x 93 cm
Rose wood

Beautiful looking piano.

You have an old Viennese action piano. There are lots of them, and they are not particularly valuable.

Schweighofer has a very interesting history though. Antonin Petrof, the founder of Petrof, worked as an apprentice for Schweighofer around 1860.

There are instruments from Schweighofer exhibited among other places here:

Germanisches National Museum
Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien

What do you want to do with this piano? Is it a family piece, or just something you picked up?

If interested in restoring it, be advised that it is not "worth" the expense of restoration (economically). You would only do it if cost is not a factor, and you simply want it "like new" again. Be prepared though...good work is not cheap.

Pwg

That's a very interesting piano, however, even fully restored it's not going to have a lot of value to someone else. It may to you and that's totally legitimate. Also, even restored it's not going to sound like a modern piano. It will be softer and have a less complex sound. It appears to be straight strung, correct? It sure has beautiful rosewood. You just don't see rosewood in pianos these days.

According to Pierce, this is Vienna's oldest piano maker. The earliest date Pierce has is #4000 in 1875, so the 1847 date is consistent but not confirmed.

It's a beautiful case. With 85 keys and those very narrow cheek blocks, it's a lot narrower than any modern piano.

Do those grills on the top slide out to put your candlesticks on?

That is exactly what happens on my 1881 Bluthner. It has a fretted music desk, with solid side pieces which slide forwards.

Thank you all.

I have picked it up with some vintage furniture.
Wanted to restore it and sell it but now I just want to sell it if it is possible.
I understood that it is not interesting for playing on it. This means I will have to wait for a collector or some museum to buy it.

What price range I can demand or expect when selling it ?
I do not expect appraisal, just to know is it in hundreds, thousands or tenthousends figures ?

The musical value is zero. You might ask the museums listed by Skjalg above, but if they can't point you in the direction of a buyer, your best bet is a woodworking hobbyist who would use it for the material. In that case, it would be worth less than the cost of moving it, but you might get lucky and find someone who will haul it away even money, no charge.

Welcome to the Forum. It's a handsome piano but we don't know anything about the condition. Probably a few hundreds if you are lucky and find the right person to sell it to. Note the following prices at the recent sale in the UK of the Colt Collection - but note that this was a high-profile sale of a famous collection.

1864 Bosendorfer, £2000

Bord (Paris) 1855, £1650

Schmidt (Pressburg) 1835, £2400

The musical value is not zero if you can find someone interested in early pianos who would be prepared to pay to restore it. That is probably rather a large "if".

What country are you?

If you were in the UK you might be able to put it into auction. It would hopefully sell, but not for very much.

The musical value is far from "zero"; but the piano probably need a thorough restoration to bring it to the point where it is performance-worthy. Pianos of this type are distinctly different from modern instruments, but that is no reflection whatsoever on their musical value. This might give you some perspective on what you have:

http://www.pianogrands.com/pianos/moregrands/schweigofer/1845/1845schweigofer.htm

A piano in need of complete restoration is considered a "core", and not worth a great deal, monetarily speaking, so don't make any assumptions that your piano in its present state is worth what the restorers in the above link are asking for a fully restored Schweighofer grand. That said, please don't let it fall into the wrong hands!

mPO, I just want to make it clear, lest you think I'm telling you you have a 5-figure value antique on your hands, you probably do not (extraordinary provenance notwithstanding.) What you have it "raw material" for a restoration specialist, and worth exactly what someone like that will pay for it. By showing you the link to a restorer's web site, my only intention was to emphasize that what you have is ***pretty nice*** raw material, and not just an old hunk of junk.

Hello, it's a beautiful piano. And it looks it's not in such a bad condition at least on the photos. If you don't want it, somebody will, that's for sure. I did a lot of research for myself and there is a big antique piano market over the globe, depends on where you live - and if there is a market, there is a buyer too. And I wouldn't say the piano is not for playing, sure it is. It has a musical and historical value.

I suggest you take a pick on some pages where you can get a pretty much good idea about the prices.

If you are from the US, take a look HERE

And HERE

As you will realise very soon, the prices of the restored pianos are very high. The prices of the restoration are very high as well - but it depends how many works it needs. And it's a big difference between the restoration and refinishing. You can check it HERE

Let's say, if you sell it for 400$, someone will refinish it for 3000 -4000$ and sell it for 30 000 - 40 000 $. If you have the money, maybe it's a good idea to refinish it before and then try to sell it.

If you are from the UK:

Check it HERE

Or HERE

Or HERE

If you just want to sell it, then find the pages where other people sell, compare your piano with theirs and put the price you think you should. If I were you, I wouldn't sell it for a hundred bucks.

Wish you luck!

It looks very beautiful, especially the cabinet. Did you try playing it? Does it still play (sound) at all? If it still plays, can you record its sounds and share the sounds on the forum? It'd be very intriguing to hear how an ancient (vintage) piano sounds like.

I looked a little closer at the photos, and find myself wondering why it has square tuning pins, and from that and the range of the piano, I suspect that it is newer than 1847, possibly about 1870. There is probably no way of knowing for certain, though.

According to this site
http://schweighofer.tripod.com/serial.htm

1400 1856
2000 1860

It has been made between 1856 and 1860 given the serial number 1558.

Indeed!

Maybe a good idea? Maybe? If this were true, then it would absolutely be a good idea. In fact, anyone would be crazy not to refinish it before selling. The problem is, of course, that it's not true, and this is terrible advice.