Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum 1927 Bösendorfer 9' 4'' Concert Grand w/ Amazing Case!!!

Sorry, one more from FB Marketplace. You gotta see the case on this instrument, wow!!! (I wish I could figure out how to get FB photos to post, there's something in how they set up their links that seems to prevent it....)

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/747283839445570/

ETA: $295,000 (also wow....)

I would have thought it earlier than 1927, more Victorian-era, perhaps. But, what do I know? Very interesting, remarkably detailed, elaborate carving, but not to my taste, however.

Regards,

That is truly beautiful ! But you would need a house with very tough floors. To me thats exquisite.

That is truly beautiful ! But you would need a house with very tough floors. To me thats exquisite......do not like the pictures on the walls though.It can be a little too much on some days.
I would rather have the new Bosendorfer.

Too bad they chose oak. Of course the price is simple pocket change, but you've got to really love oak.

😂

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

Peter, is there something wrong with oak in particular?

Lady Bird I actually like the artwork on the walls (not that it matters! : grin:

In any case, this isn’t something I would want in my own home, and it wouldn’t match very maybe homes, but it’s certainly amazing to see. I’d love to play it.

To me they make the piano look "creepy"., all the pictures "splattered with blood" ., like a "mobsters house" The frames look awful too.
A modern piano like yours or someone else here to me will not give the same affect., with suitable furniture the ,pictures could look far better......not sure I could like those colours though.

That Bosendor piano like the spectacular "chocolate box Gaveau" would need special surroundings.The twisting grotesque, yet delicate patterns of the Gaveau art case may look nice in a baroque palace ?
Probably my imagination as my husband would say ! The Bosendorfer for some reason causes me to call it a "Bombay Style", perhaps because I now know that I know its oak.(I do not know really ..... ?)
😆

I really like that Bosendorfer though......

Incredibly beautiful especially in oak. I could never own that piano because I’d be so distracted looking at the carving on the on the legs I’d lose my place on reading the music in front of me. Besides dusting that piano with all the carving would take half a day.

The other problem with a piano like that is people who have absolutely no business touching a piano like that are instantly drawn to touch, rub, and stick curious fingers everywhere. I’d need a 200 lbs Mastiff to guard it.

Beautiful beautiful beautiful but definitely not for me. Thanks ShiroKuro for sharing.

I can't believe that is in Facebook marketplace. That's the most expensive listing I've seen on there. Is it genuine?

I was wondering that myself! Maybe I should message the seller.

I checked on PianoMart, but I didn't see a listing. The person who posted the FB ad looks to be someone who sells (and maybe restores?) violins (and probably violas and cellos) and bows. It occurred to me that he was posting the ad on behalf of someone else. I

Hard to say, but I did think it was odd. Also, it's hard to tell where the piano is, but that could be the living room of an upscale home....

My take on oak is that it is far too hard for amateur cabinet makers such as myself that almost exclusively works with hand tools.

It's unfortunate that the grandest days of the piano Age, the Second half of the 19th century, coincided with the absolute worst days for visual arts in Architecture, Painting (with a few exceptions) or Furniture Design. IMO, the eclectic, over-the-top Victorian, Edwardian or Napoleon III styles are hideous. They reflected the vulgar opulence of the nouveau riche merchants and industrialists that wanted to socially displace the landed aristocracy.

Much earlier, Baroque had also indulged in some excesses, but even gayly painted and molded Italian harpsichords of the 18th century did things with taste. Later Viennese or early English pianos were models of sobriety and good design, all the way to Biedermeier style Grafs of the 1830-40's.

The First World War put a stop to all that riotous carved nonsense, and the Bauhaus creed that Form should follow Function gave us the classic modern grand. Uprights, catering to middle class uneducated tastes, still sported quite a few with flophouse styling until WWII.

I do not thing much can be done today to improve a modern grand look, except use beautiful veneers. It is interesting that even Fazioli did not try to enlist Pinin Farina. The famous attempts by Seiler, or more recently by Steinway with Karl Lagerfeld, I find unconvincing :





However, if one wishes to go space-age, I am impressed by this new organ console, fit for Darth Vader's ship :

I just like classic glossy black for grand pianos. That'll do me. None of that arty farty nonesense 😉

I have seen a very similar piano in the past, but this one has definitely had work done on it.

I think it is beautiful. I wish they had been a bit more historically accurate in shades, finishes, and fallboard name. They all look like modern choices, but they are all different from what they would have originally been.

Having said that, from what I can see, the finish work was done beautifully. I wonder how it plays? Also, I wonder if Sam Bennett knows anything about this piano.

Oh, hopefully Sam Bennett will chime in! I'd love to have some more details about this piano.


Me too, the more I look at, the more amazed by it I am.


Rich, that's really interesting, I don't know enough about these details to notice that.

Interesting how what constitutes beauty is in the eye and mind of the beholder. For those of you who think this piano is "beautiful," my taste/opinion is diametrically opposed, but then, we can't all like vanilla, can we?

Regards,

Well its often what we can afford .Either of those incredibly
art art case pianos would not look great in my house.Although we used to save and buy a few beautiful things most of our furniture is rather ordinary.
Some nicer things belonged to my grand parents.
When comes to Neo Gothic furniture ,architecture of the late 19th century , I rather like it.
There was a beautifully carved Steinways grand here recently
which was(to me) was incredible. Anyway parhaps Harry has bought Megan a beautifully carved ,restored piano.
Perhaps its a Bosendorfer.(or even a modern Sauter Ambient grand 😄 designed by Peter Maly)
Anyway I wish they would go back to Europe, live quietly in somewhere in some castle where they cannot or offend the "Royals" in the UK. I wish them all the luck they can have to survive in thier marriage with that kind of pressure .

And also, IMO, what constitutes beauty is often dependent on context. In the right setting, that piano is amazing. Shoved into my living room, not so much....

The baroque carving doesn’t speak of the opulence of the age but of the great skill of the craftsman.