John Spencer & Co., London

[githoms]

Hello everyone, it's wonderful to browse through this forum and see what a wealth of information you provide. I have an upright John Spencer & Co piano with the serial number 59346. Can you tell me anything about this piano, like year and place of manufacture? Many thanks, Gina.

[Bill Kibby]

The number suggests that your piano was made in 1913, but without photos, I can't say if this is likely, most pianos have several numbers inside.

It will have come from the Spencer factory at Goodinge Road, London N.

Although I have hundreds of surviving Spencer pianos listed on my files, no archives survive to tell us any more about individual pianos.

There are a great many Spencer postings on this forum, some have photos that you can use for comparison.

[githoms]

Thanks very much for your reply Bill, I'll look through the photos as suggested.

[vernon]

Bill
You say you have" thousands of surviving Spencers on your files"
I assume you don't want us to report every piano we visit? That seems an impossible task.
I'd be pleased to do it tho' if you wish.

[Bill Kibby]

I said hundreds, not thousands. I used to write detailed specifications for every piano I tuned, they form a large and tremendously useful database for historical research, but I am more choosy about what I file nowadays, and with so many Bords and Spencers on file, I don't have any urgent need for more, but any information on the more unusual pianos is always useful to add the Piano History Centre files. Especially useful is any information on an instrument that can be reliably dated. I try to avoid the Royal "we" on this forum, because this is a different "we".

Of course, this is not train-spotting, and what we don't need is entries that say no more than is written on the front of the piano, the idea is to be able to tell people something they don't know already. Our most urgent need at the moment is to find funding or sponsorship to display this unique collection permanently. In order to get a bigger building, we need funding. In order to get funding, we need charitable status. In order to register as a charity, we need an income of five thousand pounds per annum for the project. If we had that, we probably wouldn't need funding!

The government would like people like me to give up working on the project, and volunteer to be a full-time unpaid community organiser, then I can be responsible for my own funding. Can anyone see a flaw in this idea?

[svetlio75]

Hi! I'm interested of the specification and the year of John Spencer upright number 65547. Thanks in advance

[Bill Kibby]

The number suggests that your piano was made in 1914, but we have no way of knowing the specification, we haven't seen your piano. Can you post some photos here, or email them to me? Ideally, views of the whole piano, unobscured by dogs, stools, vases etc., and as many interior views as you can manage above and below keyboard. This link may help...
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8859

[mabru]

Hello! i'm from Venezuela, and I am really interested of the specification and the year of John Spencer upright number 66755. Many thanks!

[Bill Kibby]

You have already asked me about this piano, the number suggests 1916, but I can't tell you anything else, no archives survive, and although the Piano History Centre has the largest store of Spencer information, it is limited.

[Darylindj]

Hi Bill I would love to know the age of my upright John Spencer & co. Piano. its serial number is 30059. Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you :)

[Bill Kibby]

The published dates for Spencer numbers are misleading, as you can read at
http://pianogen.org/numbers.html
and the best estimate I can give is 1898 for this number. Without photos, I can't say if this is likely to be correct, most pianos have several numbers inside, although Spencer's can usually be seen just by opening the top.