Hill & Owen Grand Piano
date: label: date made
content: 1850
name: label: maker
content: Hill & Owen
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This grand piano was made by Hill & Owen in Boston, Massachusetts in 1851. Very little is known of the partnership of Freedom Hill and Henry Owen. Both appear in the in the Boston city directory in 1851 but are no longer listed after that date. To get at the strings, the entire lid and soundboard must be raised, which makes the piano top-heavy, tending to tip over to its spine. This is the only known grand piano by this firm. This piano is serial number 119(?), and has a compass of CC-c5, “Plastic Elastic Touch” direct-blow jack action, strings underneath soundboard, CC-EE single-strung, FF-c5 double-strung, 2 pedals: una corda and dampers, partial iron frame with iron tension bars, straight-strung, and a veneered case.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Pianos
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hugo Worch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.303523
label: catalog number
content: 303523
label: accession number
content: 62559
objectType: label: Object Name
content: piano
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (strings material)
label: Physical Description
content: felt (hammers material)
label: Physical Description
content: iron (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 51 1/2 in x 52 in; 38.1 cm x 130.81 cm x 132.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: leg: 24 3/4 in x 7 1/2 in; 62.865 cm x 19.05 cm