You've gotten reasonable guesses so far. It is not possible to be sure of the species from the pictures alone. Clearly some sort of ring- porous hardwood. Ash or some sort of nut tree - butternut, walnut, chestnut, etc. Ron is correct regarding the rotary cut nature of the front panel veneer. Striking indeed! Terry Farrell On Aug 26, 2010, at 11:57 AM, Sheila Holcomb wrote: > > (photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23869082@N03/sets/72157624687893411/ > ) > > Sporer, Carlson & Berry Upright, No. 1571 > No year listed in the atlas, but the company made pianos from > 1860-1915 > > My first guess from the color and rough grain texture would be oak, > but I have never seen this sort of dramatic curl pattern in oak. > > Anyone else seen this look before? > Also, any guesses on age? > > The other weird thing is that at first I thought it had been > refinished, due to the light color compared to the color under the > lid, but then I notice the the crazing in the finish is still there. > Is there any way someone lightened the finish without removing the > crazing? > > Oh, and this was a fire salvage piano and then stored, so it would > have been exposed to heat and then covered in a layer of soot for > about 10 years. You can see silhouettes of knickknacks and photo > frames on the lid where the heat discolored the finish. > > > > > [k] > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100826/910b4bf3/attachment.htm>
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