How do you determine the age of the (grand) piano

You can usually determine the age with the help of the serial number of the (grand) piano. If you have already found the serial number, you can find the age of the piano here. Use the following piano manufacturers list for the search function below, along with the serial number found on your piano, to find out information about its age:

Piano manufacturers and serial numbers

Baldwin / Bechstein / Berdux / Biese / Bluethner (instead of Blüthner) / Boesendorfer / Bogs & Voigt / Broadwood & Sons / Duysen / Euterpe / Fazioli / Feurich / August Foerster (instead of August Förster) / Grotrian-Steinweg / Hain / Hellas / Herrmann, Alexander / Ibach & son / Irmler / Kaim / Kawai / Knaake / Lipp & Sohn / Mand / Matthaes / May / Neupert / Niendorf / Petrof / Pfeiffer / Pleyel / Rippen / Ritmueller (instead of Ritmüller) / Roenisch (instead of Rönisch) / Roth & Junius / Sauter / Schiedmayer & Soehne (instead of Schiedmayer & Söhne) / Schiedmayer pianoforte factory / Schimmel / Seiler / Steck / Steingraeber & Soehne (instead of Steingraeber & Söhne) / Steinway & Sons / Thuermer (instead of Thürmer) / Weber / Yamaha / Zeitter & Winkelmann / Zimmermann

Please consider the above spelling of the manufacturer. If your instrument is not listed, please, send us an email. We will look in our files for the age of your (grand) piano - given there is something in our files. We unfortunately can't give value assessments - as for this, a local expert has to examine the piano on site.

Check the manufacturing date of your piano

Manufacturer
Serial number

Age of the piano

Any information on this page is provided without guarantee of its accuracy.

How to find out your (grand) piano serial number

How to find out your (grand) piano serial number

You can generally check the age of your instrument based on the number. When you open the top cover, these standard numbers are generally found inside the piano, on an iron cast plate.

Remove the panel to find the serial number

	You can open the upper panel by raising the upper lid and removing the inside locking right and left by turning the little wooden pins. Then you can move the upper front panel forward. If any candlesticks are mounted, make sure that they will not smash against the panel and cause scratches when removing or mounting.
You can remove the lower panel either by bending the wooden pin in the center upwards or by turning the swiveling pins right and left so that the panel will freely move forward. To make the piano ready for transport, remove this lower panel or secure as since it can easily drop when moving the piano and get scratched.

Examples of piano serial numbers

Some examples of serial numbers found in the instrument follow. The serial number is sometimes deeply hidden or scraped off during the previous restoration. In that case, you may determine the age of the piano by checking the serial number of the mechanism as well. The only other way is to check the design or look at the details.

Pictures of pianos and grand pianos serial number

Documents of piano manufacturers and suppliers

Unfortunately only a few manufacturers (e. g., Ibach or Schiedmayer & sons) still possess the original documents from the production sites. Most documents were destroyed during the world wars, and because of that the year of construction can only be determined with the help of the serial number. In the case of an Ibach, you can pay for a query to their archives by entering the serial number and you will receive a pretty certificate that will state the precise production date, the model name, the original price and the first owner of the instrument. We also have many original catalogs from that age and we can extract some details out of them.