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mopinko

(71,869 posts)
Thu Oct 10, 2024, 06:50 PM Oct 10

need help finding someone to handle the sale of an antique piano

soooo. i bought this gorgeous piano. i dont play, yet, but it is a gorgeous object.
1 reason i’m not making progress is that i have tiny hands, and a kink in my rt arm. (also cuz i’m not rly trying. subject for a diff group.)
these days u can get scaled down keyboards. it was my plan to replace/reconfigure the keys. there arent many ppl who do it, or have even heard of it. but i found my way to a couple of the big guys, and they refuse to touch it cuz they think it’s a crime against history. the thing was built in the 1780’s for the french court. ok, fine. i cant argue, it belongs in a museum. so i decided i’d sell it and buy something else.

well, i am having no luck figuring out how to sell it. i started at sotheby’s. they said- we agree it’s a valuable piano, but we dont deal w pianos, at all. suggested i need to find someone who specializes in them. asked a couple of the folks i’d been dealing w. nada.
i’ve found a few on the web, but no nibbles. tried a couple of the bigger chi auction houses, likewise, no joy.

any ideas? i mean, if i make a good faith effort to get it where it shd b, and cant, maybe they’ll alter it for me. or maybe i can find someone else.
it’s in pretty good shape, tho it needs what old pianos need. it’ll b some coin if i keep it. fine.

i rly do feel like an ass to keep it to myself. but if i’m stuck, i’m stuck.


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need help finding someone to handle the sale of an antique piano (Original Post) mopinko Oct 10 OP
I very much doubt that piano was built in the 1780s. It's an upright piano, Sibelius Fan Oct 10 #1
nope. it was. mopinko Oct 10 #5
I found this UpInArms Oct 10 #2
i registered there but couldnt post for some reason. mopinko Oct 10 #4
If you figure out what to do with large, valuable heavy items bucolic_frolic Oct 10 #3
well, there's that but mopinko Oct 10 #6
What part of the country are you in? AmBlue Oct 10 #7
i'm in chgo, but thx. mopinko Oct 10 #8
They ship all over AmBlue Oct 11 #9

Sibelius Fan

(24,630 posts)
1. I very much doubt that piano was built in the 1780s. It's an upright piano,
Thu Oct 10, 2024, 06:56 PM
Oct 10

the design for which dates back to 1826.

mopinko

(71,869 posts)
5. nope. it was.
Thu Oct 10, 2024, 07:46 PM
Oct 10

there were a small number of makers in france b4 the design spread.
no provenance, per se, but the seller did research it.
maker went out of business after the revolution.

mopinko

(71,869 posts)
4. i registered there but couldnt post for some reason.
Thu Oct 10, 2024, 07:43 PM
Oct 10

only i the sell forum. no button to start a thread.

AmBlue

(3,444 posts)
7. What part of the country are you in?
Thu Oct 10, 2024, 08:06 PM
Oct 10

Alamo Music in Texas might be able to guide you to some good resources. Just depends where you are.

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