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THE: MUSIC TRADE
deputy United States marshals were sent out to
recover the pianos, and all but about a dozen are
Gratifying Reports Made by the Leading Deal- now in storage in the name of the factory. The
ers Regarding Business in That Section of rest it is expected will be located and recovered
the Country—Demand Is For Better Grades without trouble. Bankruptcy proceedings were
of Instruments—Fire at the Baum-Curtis brought against Thomas Perfield a year ago, and
Store Causes Quite Some Damage—Perfield he asserts the present litigation comes from the
Co. Thrown Out of Business—Angelus Piano same sources that nearly put him out of business
Player Now Sold by Hayden Bros.—Knabe then. At that time the proceedings were sud-
Piano Also Goes from Hospe Store to This denly stopped just as the case was about to be
heard. Mr. Bartlett, of the home office of the
Concern—Other Items of Interest.
Smith & Nixon Co., is here looking after the in-
(Special to The Review.)
terests of the firm in the controversy. Perfield
Omaha, Neb., June 1, 1907.
had handled the firm's pianos here for about
Nowhere in the United States, according to five years.
those who have taken observation, is the music
The month of May saw another important
trade more prosperous at the present time than agency change from the A. Hospe Co. store to
in the trans-Missouri country, most of which is Hayden Bros., when the "Angelus" piano player
tributary to Omaha, and this prosperity is re- was taken over from the former store by the lat-
flected instantly by the activity in the stores of ter. This came on top of a similar move by the
Omaha. There is not a piano store in the city western distributing agency of the Knabe piano,
that does not boast of a very material increase which deserted the Hospe store where it had
in business over the same season a year ago, been for about fifteen years, going into the Hay-
with every indication that the rest of 1907 will den department store in April. Neither side
continue at the same ratio of increase.
would talk about the causes of the changes, but
As an actual instance of what the conditions the Hayden people have taken up the new in-
are, Mr. Quinlan, who is manager of the piano struments with a vigor which should be gratify-
department of Hayden Bros, store, said that 1906 ing to the manufacturers. Hayden Bros, entered
was the largest year he ever had in the volume the market for a piano player agency when the
of business transacted, but that already this year Omaha Piano Player Co., of which Furay &
his sales have run thirty-five per cent, over the McArdle are proprietors, moved from space in
banner record of last year, and that he believes the Hayden piano department, to larger and bet-
the present date will be maintained until the ter displayed quarters in the new O'Donahue,
end of the year from appearances.
Redmond, Normile Co. department store, a recent
Mr. Hospe, of A. Hospe Co., one of the larger addition to the big stores of the city.
stores here, spoke in the same strain regarding
his business. The firm have branches at Lincoln,
JENNY LIND'S OLD PIANO,
South Omaha, and other towns in the state, and
one at Council Bluffs, la., and Mr. Hospe said
Made by Wm. Geib, Is Now in Boston, in Good
each store is enjoying unprecedented growth.
State of Preservation.
That the country residents are contributing an
unusual share toward increasing the piano busi-
Few perhaps know that in Boston is one of the
ness, and particularly of the better grades of
earliest pianos made in New York City. I t pos-
instruments, seems to be the opinion of every sesses further interest in that it is said to be
dealer making any specialty of rural trade. Mr. the piano used at Castle Garden to accompany
Evans, manager of the Baum-Curtis piano store, the famous prima donna, Jenny Lind, in her first
who has in the two years he has been with the American concert. When the "Swedish Nightin-
firm taken particular pains to organize the state gale" made her first appearance in this country
and surrounding tributary territory, said it is and brought all New York to her feet at these
the farmer and the small town resident who are memorable concerts this little pianoforte was se-
buying the bulk of high priced instruments, con- lected from the best New York could offer and
trary to what might be expected. Advertise- taken to Castle Garden, where the great singer
ments of low prices on new and second-hand herself spent hours in practice of the songs she
pianos, he said, do not attract the man at Perk- was to sing before her enthusiastic audiences.
ins Crossroads. Nothing is too good for him,
The piano is of mahogany, and behind the lyre
and he has the money with which to pay, while is set a mirror, in which the reflection of the per-
on the other hand, it is the city man who is look- former's feet upon the pedals shows quaintly.
ing for "bargains" and will accept almost any Upon it is the following inscription: "W. Geib,
old shoddy make that looks like a piano in order Manufacturer of Cabinet, Grand, Harmonic and
to be able to say he has one in his home.
Square Pianofortes, Church and Chamber Organs,
About eighteen pianos were damaged to some Third avenue, corner 11th street, New York City."
extent when fire broke out in the Baum-Curtis The piano was afterward purchased by the Rev.
store on the third floor of the Bennett Co. de- Dr. Deane as a wedding gift to his daughter. For
partment store, the night of May 25, only a few many years it remained in the same family. A
of them, however, being actually burned, water short time ago they decided to part with- it, and
from the sprinkler system doing most of the it was purchased by Edwin Isham, of Boston,
damage. The office of the store is on the same who now owns it.
floor and it happened a number of bookkeepers
were working late and sent in a prompt alarm.
TO STOP FRAUD ADVERTISEMENTS.
Water flooded part of the floor, and each of the
floors below to the basement, causing a loss esti-
The New Zealand Government has found a
mated at nearly $20,000 to the Bennett Co., of
way to prevent fraud advertisements in the news-
which Mr. Baum is president. Burning insula- papers. A list of all such bogus advertisers has
tion from an electric wire dropping into a pile of been printed and distributed among the post of-
excelsior and boxes started the fire.
fices with peremptory orders to refuse to give up
Through a replevin suit brought by the Smith the letters or to pay any money orders to the
& Nixon Co., the Perfield Piano Co. have been individuals whose names are mentioned in the
thrown out of business, at least temporarily. circular.
Suit was 'brought to recover title to and posses-
sion of about fifty pianos and six organs, and
John L. Stomers, a piano dealer with stores
damages of $200 were also asked in remunera- in Havana, Cuba, and Key West, Fla., is cred-
tion for the time the instruments were said to ited with the sale of the R. S. Howard player-
be unlawfully withheld from the Smith & Nixon piano for the U. S. S. Dixie, then lying at Ha-
Co. Bond was filed by the manufacturers and vana.
TRANS MISSOURTTRADE NEWS.
POOLE
PIANOS
13
REVIEW
TRADE NOTES _FROM BALTIMORE.
Notwithstanding Unpropitious Weather Busi-
ness Is Fairly Good—Many Members of the
Trade in This City Will Attend the Conven-
tion of the Piano Manufacturers and Dealers
in Chicago—Knabe Removal Sale—Expect
to Clear Out Their Old Stock Before Occupy-
ing New Quarters—Knabe Pianos Used at
the Exercises at Peabody Institute—Mr. and
Mrs. Ernest J. Knabe Off to Europe—Other
Notes Worthy of Record.
(Special to The Review.)
Baltimore, Md., June 3, 1907.
Business in the retail trade has been remark-
ably brisk, considering the nearness of the sum-
mer season and the unusual weather conditions
that have prevailed during the week. Work in
the factories throughout the city has been up to
the high water mark in consequence of the many
orders to be filled for western and foreign trade.
Many of the local dealers are preparing to at-
tend the annual meeting of the National Piano
Dealers' Association, which will convene in Chi-
cago the latter part of this month. Among those
who have up to this time announced their inten-
tion of attending the convention are Messrs.
William Knabe and Charles Keidel, Jr., of Will-
iam Knabe & Co.; Messrs. G. Wright Nicols,
manager of Sanders & Stayman; G. Fred Kranz,
of the Kranz-Smith Piano Co., and Manager J. H.
Williams and the Messrs. Stieff, of the Charles
M. Stieff concern, will more than likely be among
the other Baltimore dealers who will journey to
the Windy City while the convention is in
session.
Charles Keidel, Jr., manager of William Knabe
& Co., announces that the removal sale of the
present stock of pianos at the Lyric will begin
to-morrow, at which all the instruments will be
sold at a discount of 10 per cent. The firm hope
to dispose of every instrument now on hand by
the latter part of August or the first of Septem-
ber, when it is expected that the new home of the
firm at Park avenue and Fayette street will be
ready for occupancy. I t is the intention of the
management to put an entire new stock in when
the future home is opened for business. The
plans for the building have been completed by
the architects, but the actual work will not begin
before the first of July.
William Knabe came over from New York dur-
ing the week on a business trip. Other visitors
who called upon the members of the firm were
L. M. Ide, vice-president of the Laffargue Co.,
and Mr. Dillingham, of the Tel-Electric Piano
Player Co., of New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Knabe and Miss Knabe
sailed from New York, Saturday, for Europe,
where they will remain for several months.
Several Knabe pianos were used in connection
with the closing exercises and concerts at the
•Peabody Institute, last week. The retail busi-
ness of the firm has been very favorable, while
the factory hands have been exceedingly busy in
getting out the orders that have come in.
J. H. Williams, manager of the Charles M.
Stieff piano house, is in Norfolk looking after the
arrangements for the concert and other features
for the Georgia Day celebration at the James-
town Exposition, June 12. Frederick Stieff has
returned from Sunbury, Pa., where he attended
the sessions of the Lutheran Synod.
G. Wright Nicols, manager of Sanders & Stay-
man, has been at Ocean City for several days.'
He is expected to return to-morrow.
Members of the various firms throughout the
city report business to be in good shape.
The business of the Newark, N. J., branch of
Jacob Doll & Sons, has increased to such extent
that they have been compelled to take an addi-
tional floor in the building they now occupy.
Appeal to cultivated tastes. They are
marvels of beauty and form at once a
valuable accessory to any piano store
5 and 7 APPLETON STREET, BOSTON, MASS,