Steinway has been very consistent in placing their serial numbers on their pianos. But we should be familiar with their practice.
In the nineteenth century Steinway used their serial number as their case number (production number). This was unlike the practice of many manufacturers, who gave a number to the piano when the case was begun (thus, "case number"), and only gave the piano a serial number at the time of completion. The English manufacturers did this quite early on, an industrial revolution efficiency, and Chickering followed suit. They usually recycled the case numbers, reducing confusion with the serial numbers (although for many decades Mason and Hamlin did NOT recycle their case numbers, resulting in extensive mis-identification by piano technicians and others).
Around the turn of the century Steinway began using case numbers, consisting of a letter followed by a number. (Steinway called it a Factory number or Shop number.) The letter represented the year, and the letters were recycled at the end of the alphabet. You can calculate starting with A in the year 1898. According to Roy Kehl (Kehl/Kirkland, The Official Guide to Steinway Pianos, 2011, p. 116) the earliest case number was a model "I" upright (that's the model letter "I") completed in 1898. So the serial number no longer was placed on so many parts, because the case number was used, instead.
My own experience is that both the action and the plate were given both the serial numbers and the case numbers. This is unlike Chickering and Mason and Hamlin, who usually put the serial number in only one place, inviting voluntary re-dating prior to re-sale.
Unfortunately many companies didn't put both serial and case numbers in their serial-number-indexed production books, although they may have kept a record of the case number production, either through a cross reference book (Knabe) or a separate case book (Steinway).
(Buy the Kehl/Kirkland book. It's cheap.)
Regards,
Bill
Bill Shull, Registered Piano Technician, M.Mus.
Period Piano Center
909 796-4226
Original Message------
I'm in the process of rebuilding an M. I took a picture of the serial number on the plate with my phone, but to be sure I've got the right picture, I checked the front of the action just now, and didn't see a serial number there, like there usually is.
Are there other places on the piano where the serial number can be found? The case and plate are still at the finishers, and I can go there to look. But are there other places on the action, damper assembly, etc, where the number can be found?
------------------------------
Willem "Wim" Blees, RPT
Mililani, HI 96789
------------------------------