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 17:24:29 +0100 , from time zone +0100.)

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

Related by Subject:
2009.08.06.02 (This article) - Hand-cranked Coin Piano Plays Keith Prowse Music
2025.12.04.02 - FS: A Beautiful Seeburg H For Christmas
from Mikey Mills
2025.02.03.01 - Seek Hand Crank for a Very Early 15-1/2" Polyphon
from Alan Recce
2024.05.05.01 - Seek Spring-loaded Hand Punch for Roll Editing
from Ben Roth
2023.12.25.01 - Telektra Hand-played Roll Recording Process
from David Krall
2023.05.06.01 - Seek 88-note 4-hand Full Score Classical Rolls
from Ben Roth
2022.06.18.01 - Piano Rolls with Left-hand Tenths
from Jeff Taylor
2022.04.12.01 - Calliope MIDI Files Hand-played Per Request
from Burnley Cook
2022.03.05.01 - Motorized Hand-cranked 20-note Organ
from Wallace Venable
2022.03.04.01 - Motorized Hand-cranked 20-note Organ
from Thaine Morris
2022.03.03.01 - Motorized Hand-cranked 20-note Organ
from Bill Klinger
2022.03.02.01 - Motorized Hand-cranked 20-note Organ
from Harald Mueller