Hi all, I have recently acquired an 8'4" Steinway grand from 1865 or 1866 (serial number in the 11,000's) and I'm having it rebuilt. The current soundboard has no trace of any decal, so I'm trying to figure out what kind of decal would be appropriate. The Steinway public relations person that I corresponded with told me that all Steinways had decals, even in 1865, and sent me over to Decals Unlimited. DU pointed me to their model 4106 decal, telling me it's the oldest design they have. Unfortunately that decal includes a medal from the 1876 Centennial Exposition, which obviously hadn't happened yet in 1865. ;-) So I wondered if anyone out there either has, or has seen, an original Steinway soundboard decal from the 1860's. I probably can't get a modern copy of it, but my curiosity is so great that I'd love to just see one for myself. Maybe there's one still attached to one of the old square grands out there? (They seem in general to be less often rebuilt.) Worse for my curiosity is what Steinway told me about my serial number. According to their records, my piano is a rosewood finish Style 2 with 85 keys. My piano is indeed in rosewood, but it has 88 keys. Also, at 8'5", it's clearly Steinway's largest model from that era, which I had thought they called a Style 4 grand. Can anyone shed any light on this Style mystery? I have read that the old Style numbers, 1-4, corresponded more or less with the later models A-D. Is this correct? Maybe Steinway's records of my serial number are just completely wrong? (What a bummer that would be; I was looking forward to researching the old owners.) Any clues to the above would be greatly appreciated by this newbie antique Steinway lover! Best Regards, Greg Anderson San Jose, California ps: I have digital pictures of the piano I could send to anyone interested. ___________________________________________________________________ Greg Anderson greg@PlanetBeagle.com
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