Nordheimer Upright Piano Serial Number
Jaimee Beichner
<jaimeebeichner@gmail.com>Piano serial numbers identify the (1) age of your piano, the (2)piano's year of manufacture, as well as (3) the circumstancessurrounding the production of your piano, including factory history,manufacturing processes, and company ownership and oversight.
5) Immediate interior [front]: On the back of the [a] keyslip (long wooden ledge, runs along the front/bottom of the piano's keys. The serial number is often hidden and stamped on the other side, facing the keys). On the front of the [b] action frame (after the keyslip is removed), or stamped on [c] one or both of the cheek blocks, viewed to the right and left of the piano's keyboard.
On older pianos, you may find 3-5 screws, underneath the keyslip, that will need to be removed (or, simply lift up, if no screws are present) to view the action frame. The serial number may be stamped on the front of the frame's wooden base, immediately under the keys.
To recap: the piano's serial number when it isn't immediately visible near the 200+ tuning pins or etched onto the soundboard, may be hidden, here (see the video, above, at 3:55 to prceed #1-4; please proceed with caution):
The Pierce Piano Atlas, 12th Edition now in hardcoverformat, provides a wealth of information about the piano manufacturingindustry. Over 12,000 piano names are included, some dating back to theearly eighteen hundreds. This guide provides references to serialnumbers, dates of manufacture, factory locations, a brief history ofmany manufacturers and other pertinent information.
We have a large selection of quality new upright pianos for sale. A variety of purchase options are available, including 90-day same as cash and low-interest in-house financing. We also have a rent-to-own program which you can read more about here.
I have just purchased a spinet that my piano tuner says dates to 1959 and was made under the Nordheimer name even though the metal housing says Heinzman inside. The serial number on the metal would date it being 1905 which we knew to be incorrect. I do not know how the tuner man came to give it a date of 1959 . How can I verify he was correct? Its a beautiful little walnut apartment size cabinet. Thank-you
I have an upright NORHEIMER piano with a number 7456 and found manufacture date on a 1/2inch strip of wood with eye bolts running along it. Reads PAT.MARCH:20.1877.
PAT.NOV.-26.1878. I cant believe its that old, the sound and condition is immaculate. Just need to tune a couple of keys tuned
Hi I have a Nordheimer upright piano #7902. It has "Lansdowne" manufactured by Nordheimer Co Limited Toronto. Can someone tell me the value of this piano? I would like to get rid of it since nobody plays the piano anymore. Thank you. ?
Nordheimer began to publish sheet music after the move to Toronto, and its output soon surpassed that of all other Canadian firms. When the company joined the Board of Music Trade of the USA in 1859 it satisfied the condition of membership - that of having published at least 1000 pages of music. In 1870 it had 272 titles in print. The pre-Confederation output included Canadian and foreign composers in about equal numbers. Among the former were J.P. Clarke, St George B. Crozier, Jules Hecht, Henry Schallehn, and G.W. Strathy; among the latter, Balfe, Bellini, and the young Offenbach. Also offered was a piece misattributed to Beethoven. Most publications were for piano or voice and piano, but Clarke's Lays of the Maple Leaf, a song cycle or glee (and the longest Canadian publication in sheet music size up to its time, 1853), contained duets and a choral piece. Publication series included The Band, 'a selection of fashionable dances for the piano.'
As early as 1845 the company was an agent for Stodart & Dunham of New York, Chickering of Boston, and other US piano manufacturers. In 1858 Steinway was added. Nordheimer did not establish its own piano factory until about 1890 (having operated the Lansdowne Piano Co jointly with Gerhard Heintzman ca 1886-90), but then produced upright and grand pianos of a high quality - about 5000 by 1901, 11,000 by 1910, and 21,500 by 1927.
The organisation continued to grow throughout the 1870s, and by 1879 had turned out its thousandth instrument. By 1884 the number of pianos completed reached nearly 2000, and a new factory was built in the West Toronto suburb of Toronto. (Heintzman Street marks the location of the factory today.) All production was moved to the new factory in 1888 and output began to climb steeply.
Theodore Heintzman's nephew, Gerhard Heintzman, was also a piano maker, and when Gerhard died in 1926, Heintzman & Co. continued to operate Gerhard company for several years. In later years they also produced pianos under the Gerhard Heintzman brand. In the 1920s, when many Canadian piano manufacturers were struggling, Heintzman & Co. also took over the Nordheimer Piano Company, and in later years produced pianos under the Nordheimer name. Heintzman & Co. also produced foot-pumped player pianos although a number of electric pianos have been found to use the Welte reproducing system as well as two surviving examples of an ArtEcho reproducing system. Over the years, Heintzman produced pianos were sold under several brands names, and Heintzman also sold pianos produced for them by other piano manufacturers. Heintzman's top pianos were produced under the "Heintzman & Company" brand, with the "Gerhard Heintzman" brand being next, then the "Nordheimer" brand (acquired from Albert Nordheimer, a nephew of Samuel Nordheimer in 1927).[1] Brands that were produced for them, and sold with a "From Heintzman & Company" decal were Gerhard, Weber, Stevenson.[2]
In January 1981, Heintzman Ltd was sold by the family to Sklar-Peppler Inc. of Hanover, Ontario, and was operated by Sklar-Peppler as a subsidiary under the Heintzman Ltd. name. It redesigned, rescaled and re-engineered both upright and grand pianos, and by 1985, 750 uprights and 40-50 grands were produced annually. People say that pianos of this era are popularly considered to be of substantially lower quality than earlier instruments, though still good compared to pianos manufactured around the world today, even in Germany. They made good furniture pieces and were hand made out of Canadian wood by the same people in Heintzman.
According to one piano technician, Heintzman & Co. "produced uncompromised quality grand and upright pianos through the early decades of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the market for large uprights declined through the 1930s. Heintzman followed the trend toward smaller cheaper uprights and although they produced better than average uprights, they couldn't match the sound and quality of the earlier full sized upright pianos that they had once produced."[2]
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