New Piano owner, a few questions...

[ekjdm14]

Firstly, hello to everyone and thank you for having us! I'm Dan, & myself and my partner Emma recently purchased, sight unseen, an upright piano from the local auction house for £5.

It was a speculative online bid, as we're only 2 minutes' walk from the venue and well, we thought we can't go far wrong for a fiver. Worst case we have some scrap iron and a lot of firewood but on getting said piano home I'm thinking it's going to be potentially worth keeping as it looks quite nice in my opinion.

Anyway, onto the questions we have. Firstly is (as always, it would seem!) one of dating. So far I have identified the piano as being made by Bansall (label under bass keys, order #9952) for Rushworth & Dreaper LTD, and the name given to it (underside of Fall) is Millward... On the left upper side panel is the number 121192, now I'm unsure if this is a serial number or case number but the last 3 digits are stamped into many of the removable parts.

Sadly the sticker with the maker and order number is damaged in the area that would have shown the date, but from what I gather from the piano history site associated with these forums I suspect it to be early/mid 1930s. I failed to find any legible date marks on the keys or action either so really just looking for confirmation of whether the number 121192 is likely to be the serial number & if not, where is the most likely place to find the serial number on an upright produced by Bansall? Obviously photographs will be helpful so I will attempt to transfer them from Emma's phone to my laptop & onto here but please don't hold your breath!

Anyhow, for a first post I think I've drivelled on more than long enough & shall leave my other questions regards sticky action for another time and just focus on getting a bit more info about R&D and Bansall's for now. Thanks in advance for any help/advice. Dan.

[Gill the Piano]

R&D were a big reputable department store on (I think) Liverpool, along the lines of Selfridges. Didn't sell rubbish so your piano was probably once a decent one - but a lot depends on its subsequent treatment!
If you can get the bottom (extreme left hand end) key out, there may be a date scribbled on it from when it left the factory. You could also post your info on the piano history thread, as Bill has a huge amount of info at his fingertips!