Adam Beyer c. 1779
A Rare and Important Piano sold at Piano Auctions Limited September 23rd
Adam Beyer is often considered to be the finest of all the early makers in terms of the precision of his workmanship. This beautiful example benefits from an excellent restoration by Andy Durand.
We are immediately struck by the beautiful mahogany lid and cros-banded case, but the appeal of this piano goes much deeper. We see in the image above two pedals, and below, the usual three handstops for divided damper-lift and buff.
The right-foot pedal operates the lid-swell, lifting the entire right-hand section of the lid, not just the front flap. The mechanism for this can just be seen half way along the right-hand wall of the case. But uniquely to Beyer as far as we know, the left-foot pedal enables a una corda option by controlling a very small fore-and-aft shift of the entire keyboard and action. Anybody who has worked on a square piano knows how difficult it would be to make this work reliably, and as far as we know it was only Adam Beyer who attempted it. Even so, it is rare, and this is the only example I have seen.
This beautiful and important piano carries an estimate of £800 - £1,200, but surely it is worth far more than that, not only for its historical interest but for the value of the first-class restoration .
At Piano Auctions on 23 September it achieved a hammer price of £2,800 - better than most square pianos these days, but well below the cost of the restoration.
Images by, and by courtesy of, Piano Auctions Limited
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