A Mystery Spinet

The late harpsichord maker John Rooks rescued this early English spinet from the attic of a music shop in Newark (Nottinghamshire, UK) about fifty years ago.  He did a considerable amount of work to restore it to playing condition, but was unable to establish its origins.  It had suffered a hard life, including some fire damage, and it appears that the original nameboard had been lost. It would probably have featured beautiful marquetry of birds of flowers, and it is possible that it was taken as a 'decorative piece' some time ago.  Perhaps it still survives somewhere...   

The keyboard compass of GG/BB - d3 (broken octave) firmly indicates a date of c. 1690 - 1710, and other details are consistent with this.  

Keyfronts appear to have been lost - we would expect embossed paper.

The soundboard is old, and there is no evidence that it is a replacement.  But we are not sure about the painted decoration; although not recent, it is doubtful if it is original.   

Not sure what has happened to the cheek.

The jacks are old, and probably original; they are typical of the school of Stephen Keene.  The tongue in this one looks like a replacement - almost certainly John's work.

Unusually for a spinet of this age, the stand does have every appearance of being original, although they were of course interchangeable between similar instruments.  

Together with some of John's other instruments, including two harpsichords and a clavichord, this interesting spinet will soon be offered for sale.  If any of our friends has any comments or suggestions, including what might be a fair price, do please email me, David,  friends.sp@btinternet.com