Brimsmeade serial number

[J Patrick Draine]

Dear List:
A customer has recently acquired a cottage piano aka birdcage action piano.
It is a Brimsmeade serial number 38828. As it isn't listed in my Pierce
Atlas, I was wondering if any of you (most likely someone in the UK or some
Commonwealth state) would be able to look up the date of manufacture for this
piano.
Yep, I realize the K&C spinet I recently castigated may sound like a concert
grand in comparison, but the customer likes it ... I usually run away when I
hear the words "birdcage", but I will work on it if he accepts my estimate.
It *does* have an exquisite case, and I'm guessing it was a very late model
"cottage piano" (is there a more proper name for these?). There's lots of
lost motion to regulate away, but the parts seem fairly good.
Were cottage piano's tuning pins *ever* tight enough to hold a tuning? Were
they designed for a very low (like a half tone flat of A440?) pitch standard?
-- This one is about 150 cents flat, and wildly out of tune.
While alot of CA might make the pinblock tight enough for a major pitchraise,
I'm dubious about the frame and strings' ability to handle it. Advice from
birdcage rasslers appreciated.

Patrick Draine