Subject: Knabe Age Greetings, The customer wanted me to declare the Knabe grand a real antique, she had been told it was built in 1853, because the "serial" number was 6058. It appears that this is a case number,not a serial number. Due to a rebuild at some time in the past, there are not factory serial numbers on it, but a penciled in 80050/ 1916 on the inside of the action cavity. I am leaning toward telling her to believe that later date, due to the piano's construction. I also told her I would bounce this out on the list to see if I could find somebody to agree with me. The piano is a conventional grand, about 6 feet. It has a continuous rim, full iron plate, modern action and damper assembly. Mahogany case, 88 keys, normal keypins, etc. Is there any particular facet of the Knabe pianos that marks a particular date? Like partial plates at such and such a time, or jointed rims discontinued at a particular date? Help please, she thinks the museum will want it very badly........ Thanks, Ed Foote RPT
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