Mr. Gerard Larrousse of France offers for sale his Pleyel DEA
reproducing piano, to include his collection of 94 Hupfeld DEA
music rolls.

The upright piano was built by Pleyel in 1912, Pleyela serial No.
154958, height 140 cm [55 inches], width 150 cm [59 inches], depth
80 cm [31.5 inches].  The DEA player mechanism was made by Hupfeld
in Leipzig-Ehrenberg, Germany.  Sadly, the matching bench vanished
long ago.

M. Larrousse writes (paraphrased and translated from French by me):

  "I was raised in the countryside with this piano and often listened
to it throughout 40 years.  But I was the duck of the family and
I preferred the music of the 12 cylinders... [*]

  "Since last February I have met several times with Douglas Heffer.
In particular, I have listened with emotion to the DEA [Vorsetzer]
system at his piano.  On his advice I have decided to sell my piano
in its present condition, either directly or at auction toward the
month of September.

  "The DEA player mechanism was poorly rebuilt (said Douglas, and I
believe him!) within the past five years.  It doesn't function well
and the motor is poorly installed and makes much too much noise.

  "On the other hand, the musical part is in very good condition
because the pin block has been changed and the piano was tuned this
year.  The sonority is excellent.

  "The piano may be viewed in St. Cloud, nearby Paris.  I wish to sell
it for USD 15,000 in its present condition, with transportation to be
at the buyer's expense.  One could easily transport the piano to
Douglas Heffer's workshop in Montmartre, Paris, and he could be in
charge of putting it back to new condition before sending it onward
to the buyer.

  "Sincerest greetings from the South of France where I reside
  currently, and where we're waiting for the sun!

  Gerard Larrousse
  Peyrefuguede
  83143 LE VAL
  France
  tel+fax :      +33(0)4 94 86 45 02
  tel. (Mobil) : +33(0)6 11 18 32 32
  email : larrousse@free.fr.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

Photos of the piano may be seen at
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Tech/DEA/index.html  A list of the 94 DEA rolls
in the collection is available from me <editor_0403@foxtail.com> as
a text file (*.txt) or as an Excel spreadsheet file (*.xls).

* M. Larrousse was a professional racing driver and was twice the
winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race (in 1973 and 1974).  In 1976 he
became competition manager of the new Renault "Sport" auto and he
masterminded Renault's Sport Formula 1 team to victory in 15 Grand
Prix races.

Robbie Rhodes
Etiwanda, Calif.