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Hi, I’m puzzled by the cageyness of the piano manufacturers regarding the serial number/date of production.
I wanted to know the date of production of a piano I am interested in but the salesman was vague about it so I asked the manufacturer directly. They told me they can only tell that to the dealers or the owners.
Could anyone tell me why is this? I tried to Google but I could only find the date before 2000.

The information is freely available for some brands - which brand are you interested in?

S&S, M&H, and Yamaha all have good resources for serial number/date of manufacture.

I know not only the year my M&H was made, but also the start and finish months (the M&H rep spoke to me directly about the process).

Pass on that dealer and that manufacturer? Plenty more pianos to choose from unless this is the one for you.

Unfortunately, current M & H owners did not retain records for early pianos. Mine was built in 1907 per internet serial search, but the company can provide no information

I'm not sure what the need for a specific serial # date of manufacture would be. I was not interested in that info, but was given it as part of a factory warranty discussion. I bought from an unauthorized dealer, and M&H provided me with a full warranty anyway direct from the factory.

IMO only, (no basis in facts here) I would think a good piano technician rebuilder would know, when inspecting a piano, its condition and need for particular repairs, without requiring knowledge of its age.

Hummmm
Bosendorfer. All I’ve found out is they made its 50000th piano in 2015. So the one I am interested was most likely produced between 2016-2020.
It isn’t that I’m fussed about which year it was made - I am really puzzled why this piece of info isn’t easily available to the potential buyers.

50000 is in 2015.
I'm also pretty sure 52100 is Q4 2021.

They make ~300 pianos a year, roughly 25 pianos a month.

You can probably guesstimate the year, maybe even get close to the month?

2021: 51800-52100
2020: 51500-51800
2019: 51200-51500
2018: 50900-51200
2017: 50600-50900
2016: 50300-50600
2015: 50000-50300 (the math checks out?)

Here is a link to serial numbers for Bösendorfer posted on another site. Here is another link to a thread that also discusses origination date based on serial number from which you might be able to further extrapolate the age of the piano.

Is the dealer a Bosendorfer reseller or just a piano dealer? Was the salesman cagey about the history of the piano as well as the date of manufacture?

The Mason & Hamlin records exist somewhere. I think that they were donated to the International Piano Library, which was in Baltimore, I think. I am not sure where they are now. I know my Mason & Hamlin A was shipped to the New York store 99 years ago this month.

I did call M & H to check and the information they gave me was that the historical records were kept by a former employee and were not part of the company. I’ll try contacting the library and see if they can help. Thanks much!

Thank you so much everyone!

Thanks to you all now I am confident that the piano is from 2019.

The salesman was at one of the authorised dealerships.He was very knowledgeable about the piano and was absolutely lovely, and not cagey about anything else. In fact he did say the piano is from pre-pandemic so I am not complaining about him. I am very sorry if I made you all misunderstood.

What I feel strange about is the attitude of Bosendorfer. Why do they want to keep the production date secret? It really is a huge commitment to buy one of their pianos so I feel it is natural for the buyer to know all about it before buying.

It was not that I abruptly wrote to them demanding to give me the production year. We had corresponded previously about the purchase.

Nevertheless, the micro Bosendorfer 155 is lovely…

Companies in many industries prefer to work through their partners. This keeps communication together and avoids misunderstandings. Perhaps the salesman should havd offered to find out. My car has a sticker wth the date of manufacture, why not on pianos?

Hi BDB
I received this reply from the library

Unfortunately we are not in a position to help. The International Piano Archives deals with pianists, piano music and piano recordings. We have no information on piano manufacturers or the piano industry.

1t might have been the Smithsonian, l do not remember.

Thanks I’ll try them. I don’t understand why M & H would not want their own company’s historical records or have donated them to a library. The response ‘oh, an employee took them’ just doesn’t make sense if you care about the brand.

It could just be a historical fact they are aware of, but can't do anything about at this point?

But I agree, it would be great to preserve those records both for company history and to help out future owners of vintage instruments!

The records existed when they were made in East Rochester. What happened after that was chaotic for some time.

I'm reminded of the movie, "What About Schmidt," where at the end of his career he's trying to pass on all his records (in a wall of filing cabinets), and explain them, and nobody's interested. He visits a few days later and sees them out back by the dumpsters.

M&H perhaps was something in the reverse. The company was shunted from one owner to the next so many times, that somewhere along the line someone probably had no interest in the historical records, and a [former] employee valued them enough to rescue them from the trash (after all, employees don't just take home the company records unless the company doesn't want them any longer). I mean, can you imagine the boss saying, "hey Joe, why don't you take all the company historical records and store them for us?"

Anyway, I'm completely speculating. But what other scenario could there be?