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MMD > Archives > August 2009 > 2009.08.06 > 02Prev  Next


Hand-cranked Coin Piano Plays Keith Prowse Music
By Nicholas Simons

I have had correspondence with Randi Boles and seen a number of photos
of this piano.

This instrument is actually a Keith Prowse Pennyano, which is a coin-
feed cafe piano distributed by Keith Prowse between 1905 and 1918.
The pianos were made by any of the many barrel piano makers around
London at the time, and fitted with a top-mounted tune sheet showing
the 10 tunes that are played.  The pianos usually had 48 keys played by
the spring-motor-driven barrel.  These pianos are still relatively
common in Great Britain but were rarely exported.  Randi's piano must
have been exported to the USA many years ago, as it has survived in
excellent condition and still appears to have the original barrel
pinning.

The most common makers of barrel pianos at this time were Pasquale,
Tomasso, and Chiappa.  From certain peculiarities of the design, I have
identified Randi's piano as having been made by Pasquale.

As has been posted, Keith Prowse was a distributor of musical
instruments, including the larger Hupfeld machines, and is still in
business today, but only as a music agent.  The company was founded by
two men, Mr. Keith and Mr. Prowse, and not, as most people think, by a
man called Keith Prowse.  I have a piano retailed by them, and it has
an engraved brass plate which includes a comma between the Keith and
the Prowse.

With best regards from the UK,
Nicholas Simons.


(Message sent Thu 6 Aug 2009, 16:24:29 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Coin, Hand-cranked, Keith, Music, Piano, Plays, Prowse

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