1860 BROADWOOD                                                                        

The 1860 Broadwood grand, serial number 3846, is from the boudoir or short drawing room grand series. Although it closely resembles the piano that the Broadwood firm provided Chopin during his visit to England in 1848, the latter was from the concert grand series. One finds here, as in the “Mendelssohn” Broadwood, a metal plate and bracing bars. Unlike the overhead damper rail in the earlier Broadwoods of 1806, 1816 and 1829, the damper system of this piano is like that of the modern grand piano. As told in the David Wainwright book, Broadwood was making pianos with a full iron frame in 1849, the first of which was to be presented to Chopin. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Chopin died on October 17 of that year.

The original hammer coverings on this 1860 Broadwood were a rather soft felt, unlike the leather-covered hammers in the earlier Broadwoods. In 1957 the piano was in the possession of John Challis, to whom it had been given by a family in Michigan. Mr. Challis often restored an earlier piano as a harpsichord, replacing the hammer action with a jack and quill action. The 1806 Broadwood would have been such a candidate. Fortunately, this piano from 1860 was unsuitable for any such transformation.