Sellers Square Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This square piano was made by John Sellers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania around 1794-1796. Because the name board probably came from another maker’s piano, it has been speculated that this instrument could have been made by John Behrent or James Juhan of Philadelphia, or that Sellers rebuilt someone else’s piano. The unusually short compass would suggest an earlier date than Sellers is known, and the action type and knee-lever might indicate that the maker was originally German or Austrian. The piano has a compass of C-f3, and early Prell action, leather hammers, first 10 notes are single-strung and the rest double-strung, with tuning pins on right, 1 knee-lever: dampers, a wood frame, and a mahogany case.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1778 - 1782
• maker: Sellers, John
• Object Name: piano
• Place Made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• ID Number: MI.291108
• catalog number: 291108
• accession number: 59954
• Credit Line: Hugo Worch
• 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.