Chickering & Sons Grand Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This grand piano was made by Chickering and Sons in Boston, Massachusetts in 1865. This piano is identical to the one that Chickering won a gold medal with at the Paris Exposition in 1867. The piano is serial number 27733 and has a compass of AAA-c5, Edwin Brown patented action, copper-wound and plain steel strings, 1, 2, or 3 strings per note, layers of felt hammers, 2 pedals: una corda and damper lifter, a one-piece cast-iron frame, straight-strung, and a rosewood veneer case.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1865
• maker: Chickering, Jonas
• Object Name: piano
• Physical Description: felt (hammers: material)
• Physical Description: copper-wound and plain steel (strings: material)
• Physical Description: cast-iron (frame: material)
• Physical Description: rosewood veneer (case: material)
• Measurements: overall: 96 cm x 141.5 cm x 249.5 cm; 37 25/32 in x 55 23/32 in x 98 7/32 in
• place made: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
• ID Number: 1981.0625.01
• accession number: 1981.0625
• serial number: 27733
• Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Henry Hoagland
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.