Square piano

Date1858 ca.

Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Serial No.6249

SignedDecal on capo-tasto bar: PATENT SUSPENSION BRIDGE PATENTED / SEPT. 23RD 1851 / MANUFACTURED BY HALLET, DAVIS & CO. / Nº 409 WASHIINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.
Lacks inscription on nameboard (removed during refinishing?)
MarkingsSerial number stamped on soundboard, on bottom under keyboard, and on underside of bottom; in pencil on paper glued to hammer rail; in pencil on end blocks.
In pencil on top key: Norton / 6249
Stamped on e’ and f’ keys: SCREW
Obscure cursive inscription in red crayon on bottom under treble keys
DescriptionCompass: CC-c5
Three pedals: left- moderator; middle and right both raise dampers (possibly originally arranged so that the middle pedal raised only the bass dampers; cloth is presumably missing from rail under damper cranks, so the exact functions cannot be determined with certainty).

Naturals covered with ivory with rounded fronts; sharps ebony.
Action: English-grand type.

Full cast-iron frame with capo-tasto bar in treble; this bar and the action are similar to those in Louis H. Browne’s patent (#8383) of Sept. 23, 1851.

Hitch-pin and wrest-pin areas of iron plate decorated with painted flowers and birds and leaves in gold, on a black ground.

Bridge divided between F and F#, arranged for cross stringing.
Bichord throughout, except for unichord stringing of 6 lowest notes.

Case, with rounded corners, veneered in rosewood.
Edge of lid gadrooned.
Carved cabriole legs.
Edge of lid gadrooned.
Pedal holder in the form of an inverted lyre.
DimensionsExcluding moldings:
Length: 1900 mm
Width: 925 mm
Height of case (excluding lid, legs, and leg blocks): 310 mm
Total height, excluding lid: 950 mm
ProvenancePreviously owned by Helen Dorthea and Paul S. Mefford, Laurens, Iowa. Mefford owned the instrument by 1971, when he had it refinished by the Peterson Piano & Organ Co. of Dunnell, Minnesota.
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, “Gala Celebration Planned . . . Cutler and Everist Galleries Will be Dedicated May 6,” The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XXII, No. 3 (April 1995), pp. 1-3.

John Koster, "Square Piano by Hallet, Davis & Co., Boston, About 1858," The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XXII, No. 3 (April 1995), pp. 4-5.

John Koster, “The Technological Development of the Piano in American Squares,” in Geschichte und Bauweise des Tafelklaviers (23. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium, October 2002; Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 68), ed. by Boje E. Hans Schmuhl and Monika Lustig (Augsburg: Wiáner-Verlag, and Michaelstein: Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein – Musikinstitut für Aufführungspraxis, 2006), pp. 299 and 301.

Credit LineGift of Helen Dorothea and Paul S. Mefford, 1993

Object number05723

On View

Not on view