I need to stop asking Mom what she wants to accomplish before she dies….we might end up with a pet chimpanzee.
A conversation about missing my Dad’s piano playing led Mom to telling me that she always dreamed of owning a baby grand piano. No more than several days had passed before I saw a piano listed for sale. It stated that the piano had been abandoned and would be destroyed if not sold soon. I am no piano expert but when I saw “her”, I knew there were good memories contained inside.
This is a Chickering and Sons quarter baby grand piano made of satin rosewood. Quarter baby grands are more narrow, only 54 inches. This piano dates to the Great Depression of the 1930’s and was manufactured on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Despite being the largest U.S. piano manufacturer, Chickering went out of business in 1985. They say there is nothing that compares to the powerful bass strings sound from a Chickering. We shall soon find out.
Had I not leaned down to see what was written on a balled up piece of paper, I would not have learned that this piano had been inside a historic Virginia plantation before it landed in Savannah. One of the keys is missing in the center of the keyboard, which identified it as the same piano. Serial number has not been located yet but it will be interesting to know who the original owner was. I don’t know why it was moved to Savannah.
The home that is was abandoned in is part of the famous Owens Plantation of Savannah, Georgia, where General William T. Sherman and his troops stayed before crossing Salt Creek in 1864 to capture Savannah. He gifted Savannah along with 25,000 bales of cotton to President Abraham Lincoln.
Today we picked up the piano. It will be restored by 88 Keys Piano of Bloomingdale, Georgia, where it will get a fresh start. Fortunately we learned that it had been restrung and was in exceptional condition.
Another successful save..with quite a history.