In a message dated 3/30/99 11:25:13 AM, you wrote: <<Jay, I have always thought that the 21400 was the first piano built in 1907 and that 24100 was the first piano built in 1908. Tom>> Jay, Tom; Just the thing to clear the cobwebs and quit working for a minute :-) I had this same question and used the name of "Bord" as my reasoning as far as the atlas goes. The 9th edition lists Bord (by Pleyel) as being founded in 1840, it also lists the serial No. 1, in 1840, the next listing is for 1845 where the serial number rises to No. 1200. Now I took/take this to mean that "Bord" produced one piano in 1840, so that was the last piano produced that year...right? If that reasoning is correct than serial No. 1200 was the last piano produced in 1845....right? So far, so good......but do the serial numbers reflect actual "units" produced or just assigned serial numbers........ in other words if a unit is destroyed in production, or is found to be totally unsuitable for sale, does the serial number just switch to another unit? Or is that number just skipped over? The plot thickens and I have no answer :-) Jim Bryant (FL)
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