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Hi all!

A dozen of years ago my parents bought me an antique Hupfeld upright piano. Now the piece is just taking the space, and parents want to sell it. However, we have no idea how old is this thing (well, the seller told us it was about 80 years old, so now it might be about 100 I guess; has ivory keys, hand carver, etc.) and how much it would cost. Of course, thing is out of tune, has many flaws, but I think it is still worth something. All your advices are welcome!!!

Old uprights tend to have very little value these days, although your local market may be different. So you should call a local technician to get an idea if there is any value in this piano.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply!

I believe that without restoration it is not a very worthy gear. However, how much approximately I could expect getting for it? $100, $1000?

I think you would struggle to get anything for it and might have to pay somebody to take it away. You have a very old piano, of obscure make, with a pedal missing and a severely worn case. Would you pay anything for it?

I am sorry to be a harbinger of bad tidings but it is better that you know than you go on imagining it is worth anything.

Hi,

No problem - you tell me the truth, and I appreciate that

I would try to search through the Internet a piano restorer and ask them about your piano.
I mention this, because there are people who look for a special action or sound in a piano
and some of the older pianos have a special individuality in their sound quality.
The best people to ask about this are people
who particularly specialize in restoring old pianos...

Best wishes and good luck from Kristina.

Interesting -- that great big Helvetical "HUPFELD" clashes severely with the style of the case. Perhaps it's a stencil piano. Is there a name cast into the plate?

The first association I have with that name is the composer Herman Hupfeld, whose best known piece is "As Time Goes By".

BTW, where is the piano?

Hupfeld was a real manufacturer in Germany. They had one of the first expression player mechanisms.

From the German Wikipedia, translated by Google Translate:

Ludwig Hupfeld took over on July 1, 1892, the music shop, founded J. 1880-1882 by JM coarse and two partners M. Grob & Co. in Leipzig- Eutritzsch who had initially sold only instruments, from 1886 also self-playing pianos and fairground built. After the acquisition, the name was changed to "Hupfeld musical instrument works."

The company continued to sell self-playing instruments from other manufacturers such as the Symphonion, Calliope and the self-playing zither Chordephon.

Advertising for the Phonola of 1903. 1902 brought Hupfeld in competition with the American pianola the Phonola as so-called art player piano out, the first primarily as a so-called tail stock was sold in larger quantities. As the name pianola in America and Britain, the Phonola in Europe has become synonymous with a self-playing piano was. It was followed by 1904 Phonoliszt as electric piano with artificial emphasis especially for classical music and more for home use, while the Clavitist as a restaurant piano had only a modest emphasis means and was designed especially for dance and entertainment music and the basis for most Hupfeld- orchestrions formed.

A major challenge for Hupfeld came in 1904, when the Freiburger company M. Welte & Sons piano the first reproduction of the world with the name Welte-Mignon brought to market. Ludwig Hupfeld needed more capital for the necessary investments for the development and construction of new instruments, therefore the previous company was in a newly formed corporation introduced the Ludwig Hupfeld AG. In return for the Welte-Mignon Hupfeld DEA a reproduction system that came on the market in 1908 has been developed. Later this to Tri-Phonola, a combination of art game, electric piano and reproduction, further developed. After 1911 Hupfeld then produced instruments with the piano roll in the format specified by the Buffalo Convention oriented and were then accompanied by the words "animatic" (Animatic Clavitist, animatics Phonoliszt etc.). Were piano roll with the animatic (for Phonola), animatic-S (for animatic-Clavitist), animatic-SJ referred to (for symphonic jazz juke) and animatic-T (for Triphonola and animatic Phonoliszt).

The Hupfeld factory in Böhlitz Ehrenberg near Leipzig. 1905 or 1906 presented the Mills Novelty Company in Chicago, USA, the first juke ago with an integrated violin. This instrument, the Automatic Virtuosa, had a built-lying violin, the strings were removed by four rotating celluloid disks in the upper part. From 1909 there was an improved model, the Violano-Virtuoso.

1908 presented Hupfeld also a juke box with integrated violins that of Carl Hennig [1] constructed Phonoliszt-Violina. This was a two-meter-high instrument with a self-playing piano in the lower part, in its upper part, however, three violins were pressed against a round, rotating violin bow. The larger instruments and fairground called themselves Symphony Jazz, Pan, Phonoliszt-Violina, Dea-Violina Clavitist-Violina, Pepita, Violina Orchestra and Helios, after the First World War Hupfeld also produces cinema organs. Over 5 million music rolls for the Hupfeld music systems have been manufactured and sold in the year. The company Hupfeld produced a huge amount of variations so a Phonoliszt-Violina-Orchestrion with six violins and an automatic roll changer, who played up to 10 rolls directly behind the other. The listener could determine the role of their choice by pressing a button on a box on the wall itself.

Between 1910 and 1911, in Böhlitz Ehrenberg a new, approximately 100,000 square foot facility, now a district of Leipzig, built in the beginning of 1200, some years later, up to 2,000 employees worked and Hupfeld thus the world's largest manufacturer of mechanical musical instruments made. 1910 opened with showrooms and concert hall in Leipzig, the "Hupfeld-house". Hupfeld bought renowned piano factories - 1918 Piano Factory Carl Rönisch in Dresden , 1920 A. H. Grunert in Johanngeorgenstadt and 1924 plug-in Gotha. But the market changed and the poor current business forced Hupfeld 1926 merger with the piano factory Gebrüder Zimmermann , who in 1904 in a hurry castle had settled there and possessed a large and modern manufacturing. The company will henceforth under Leipzig Pianoforte & Phonola factories, Hupfeld-Gebr.Zimmermann AG hurry castle and had locations in Leipzig, hurry castle, Dresden and Seifhennersdorf. The company had become the largest piano manufacturer in Europe.

Towards the end of the 1920s, sales broke through the advent of records and radio excessively. On June 30, 1931, the Eilenburger was closed. The 1934 production had to be almost completely set, it produced only a modest scale pianos. The production facilities were in World War II used for the production of military needs and were very badly damaged by bombs. After the Second World War, Ludwig Hupfeld was expropriated, the company was founded in 1949 in VEB renamed German Piano Union that continues even under the brand name pianos Hupfeld produced and sold. After that was the piano factory in Leipzig GmbH & Co.KG Ludwig Hupfeld-Str. 16 owner of the brand name Rönisch and Hupfeld and produced to insolvency 13 August 2009 instruments with this name. [2] Rönisch was supported by the Julius Blüthner piano factory applied.

It might not be a great sounding instrument, but the case is art nouveau and would be valued as a period piece, if nothing else. Don't scrap it.

Hi all!

Thank you all for your comments - they're really helpful!

The piano is currently in Lithuania. There is no name casted on the metal pieces inside the piano, or I did not notice it... Will take a deeper look.
Well, I think that it is more a nice piece of furniture than the instrument so far, if not restored. But I know that full restoring would cost a LOT, so I am not planning to do that.

I found several numbers of people who restore old pianos - I'll contact them and will update this post if I'll find out something useful.

Thanks again!