Halifax piano

[Anne Beetem]

>I'll get to the hinges in a moment, but...an EARLY 1800s piano made in
>Halifax N.S. is an exceedingly rare beast. No matter how much prior
>bastardization has taken place already it would be criminal to continue
>the process. You can tell that Historical Society from me. If they want
>something to play Silent Night they should get a cheap keyboard and not
>touch the piano. But they are not much interested in history if they would
>be prepared to destroy further such a rare historical artifact, not just a
>rare piano, but an artifact of early Eastern Canada...it shouldn't be too
>hard to raise a bit of money to at least remove some of the previous
>repair work, if not restore it.
>
>At least they should do nothing to it. Forget the photo film.


A strong second from me on this.  Sorry, Stephen, I should have jumped in
before, busy schedule or not.

Yes tell them that multiple "experts in the field"  say it would be
criminal to continue bastardizing this instrument, and hit them in the
pocketbook,  tell them they are GREATLY reducing its value by altering it.

Historic relics should NOT be tampered with, certainly not before
discovering it's relative age, worth, etc, documentation has been created,
and so forth.  Once you make those "improvements and repairs", authenticity
aside, especially,  valuable information is lost,  generally forever.  How
many of you save the strings on the late 19th century pianos you restring,
e.g.?   let alone save them in acid proof boxes?

Yes, rent an electronic keyboard for Silent Night, but do get somebody out
to evaluate and catalog that piano.

Who's out that way Stephen?

ab





Anne Beetem
Harpsichords & Historic Pianos
2070 Bingham Ct.
Reston, VA  20191
abeetem@wizard.net