Music Trade Review

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10
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
the agent goes on his travels. He may be heard above appears a cloudy sky, the cloud effects
from after several months, but the interval is being produced by the shadings in a piece of
usually longer. When he is, however, it is gen- variegated maple wood. In the left foreground
erally in the shape of an order. The unsuspect- appear two board houses, one with the planks
ing victim ships the goods, as directed, and in- placed vertically, while in the other they are
stead of the expected remittance, he receives a horizontal; each is provided with a red brick
statement which shows him to be the debtor of chimney, rising from the middle of the roof.
the agent. In nine cases out of ten this is, of
There are doors and windows, and in front of
course, ignored, but the goods are lost without one door a negro woman is employed at the wash-
hope of recovery.
tub, while near the other is the figure of a col-
"There is another fraud that is being practised ored man. Two dogs are racing toward the
upon the exporter by the commission agent, houses, and off to the left other small dwellings,
which, while not perhaps so gross as those al- are seen. Volumes of realistic smoke issue from
ready mentioned, is certainly a menace to the the chimneys, while the appearance of the plants
trade. This consists in creating the impression and trees indicates the intention of the artist
that the commission agent originates the orders to depict a scene in the sunny South.
which he is only commissioned to fill. In order
TROUBLE WITH THE WAVES.
to further this scheme, manufacturers are asked
The sea in the background is less skilfully
to sign contracts by which the agent undertakes done than the land, the artist evidently having
for a certain sum to make a special feature of
difficulty in fashioning his waves, and after an
the contracting firm's goods in the foreign mar- attempt, not very successful, in one corner, he
kets, forgetting the fact that by so doing he gave up the effort and used one piece of wood to
practically lays himself open to a charge of dis- indicate a smooth expanse of water. Not far
honest dealing, for if he deals honestly by his from the shore is a steamboat with single funnel,
employers, the latter are entitled to all the emitting an inordinate quantity of very black
orders for their goods without extra charge."
smoke. There is a paddle wheel of the earliest
type on each side anct the funnel is held by rods
from the prow and stern.
Nearer the shore is a rowboat with two figures,
Scarcity of This Form of Decoration in Piano
beyond
the steamer is a large square-rigged ship,
Cases—A Wonderful Example of What Has
Been Accomplished in That Direction in the and far in the distance is seen a catboat. A
Past Found in St. Louis—Some Clever Work number of gulls are flying close to the surface of
the water and there are other adjuncts suggestive
Daubed Over—How Discovered.
of a marine view.
Inlaid work is no special novelty, but inlaid
The picture is surrounded by a scrollwork of
pianos are so rare that many musicians have wood, once white, now slightly yellow with age,
passed their lives without the sight of one, for, and the scroll design is varied by roses, full
although attempts have been made at various blown and in bud, other kinds of flowers and small
times by American and foreign manufacturers fruits, evidently intended for red currants. There
to revive a once popular fashion, they have not are grape vines winding their tendrils here and
been successful, principally for the reason that there about the scrolls, a charmingly effective
the plain elegance of a highly-polished rosewood use being made of parti-colored leaves which
or mahogany case is preferred to the best results might be of the grape, oak or maple. Above the
of the inlayers' skill. Besides, unless inlaid central design rises the eagle grasping two
work is skilfully done, it is worse than no orna- American flags and several darts, while beneath
ment at all. The wages of woodworkers are very is a shield of red, white and blue wood, showing
high and add so considerably to the cost of an ten white stars on a field of blue and ten alter-
instrument that few care to pay the difference.
nate red and white stripes.
One of the best specimens of old-time inlaid
AMERICAN TKSEK HUNTING.
work applied to a piano is in the possession of
That portion of the front which covers the
Charles J. Menges, of 3145 Meramec street, St. upper part of the action is a panel adorned with
Louis, who acquired the instrument in 1902, and three designs, two of which are nearly 8 inches
regards it as one of his most valuable posses- square, the subjects being fruits, flowers and
sions, not only because of the marvelous beauty vines, with the pleasing addition of bright-hued
of its decorations, but from the fact that they humming birds, poising themselves in front of
were in a sense discovered by himself.
the blossoms, the whole surrounded by yellow-
FOUND O> T FRANKLIN AVENUE.
white scrollwork similar to that already men-
He found the old upright for sale in a second- tioned. The central piece is much larger than
hand furniture store on Franklin avenue. It the side panels and represents a tropical forest.
was in bad condition, the case was painted with In the open ground a stalwart Indian, whose
a layer of common varnish over the paint, and head is surmounted by gorgeous feather plumes,
altogether the neglected instrument looked so holds in one hand a bow. He has drawn the
common and cheap that he hesitated at its pur- arrow to the head and is in the act of discharg-
chase. But he was at that time experimenting ing it at a monstrous tiger which is advancing
in piano actions, and bought the instrument for deliberately toward the hunter, and with a long
the sake of having something inexpensive on and very red tongue is licking his lips in antici-
which to work.
pation of the feast to follow, if the aboriginal
A few days after he had taken the upright American does not run away.
home he noticed at a place where the paint had
A TEDIOUS WORK.
been rubbed off the case a bit of colored wood,
The amount of tedious labor spent by the
and, impelled by curiosity, started to clean the painstaking toiler in the preparation of these
case. He found that the whole piano had been elegant pictures may be judged from the fact
covered with several thicknesses of stiff paint, that every part is composed of bits of different
and on the removal of this there appeared not woods, the pieces varying in size from that of a
only the rosewood of the body, but a series of the dime to that of a pin head; each wood is of its
most exquisite wood mosaics, more properly mar- natural color or most skilfully stained, and there
quetry, this being the name applied by the arfis- are from fifteen to twenty different hues and
tic world to inlaying done in wood.
tints. Where shading is required, from dark to
A SOUTHERN SCENE.
light or the reverse, the number is, of course,
The principal design is on that portion of the greatly increased, but each minute speck is so
cover which protects the keyboard and on the accurately fitted into place with those surround-
front immediately above, the scene being so ing it that only by the use of a strong magnify-
cleverly contrived that the seam or crack between ing glass can the dividing lines be traced.
the keyboard cover and the part immediately
A HUNDRED YEARS OLD.
above furnishes a dividing line and thus becomes
As to the age of the piano and its marquetry,
a part of the picture. This elaborate piece of nothing is positively known. It may be approxi-
work is about 3 feet long by 13 to 14 inches in mated, however, by a reference to the history of
width. It represents a curious combination of the upright piano.
land and sea view, fading away to the horizon,
The antiquated form of Mr. Menges' piano re-
which is the dividing line of the cover, and fers it to a date between 1808 and 1830. The
INLAID WORK-IN PIANOS.
marquetry could not have been made earlier than
1807, for there is the steamboat, and Fulton's
boat dates from the year first mentioned, nor
later than 1830, for about that time the low up-
rights went out of use.
There are curious anachronisms in the work,
which indicate that it was done either in a for-
eign country or by a workman unfamiliar with
subtropical America. The houses bear no re-
semblance to the cabins of Southern "quarters,"
there are no tigers in America, the shield has
an incorrect number of stars, and there are
numerous other little points which indicate that
the artist was either guessing or working on in-
formation furnished by someone who knew no
more of the South than himself.
STORY OF THE PIANO.
These points give probability to a tradition of
the piano trade. Early in the nineteenth cen-
tury, it is said, an eastern firm ventured the ex-
periment of manufacturing very expensive pianos
for the southern trade. The wealthy planters
were able to pay whatever was asked for a piano
that pleased their wives and daughters, and the
firm, in order to impart "local color" to their
instruments, had cartoons prepared by a foreign
artist who had never visited the South. Swiss
workmen did the work, followed literally the
cartoons drawn for their use, hence the perpetua-
tion of the anachronisms mentioned. The pianos,
however, did not catch the southern fancy, says
the St. Louis Globe-Democrat; only a few were
made, and the experiment was given up. This
piano is probably one of the few, and the thick
covering of paint suggests that it may have been
stolen, perhaps during the civil war, and dis-
guised by the thief to prevent its identification.
HOLSINGER PLEADS NOT GUILTY.
(Special to The Review.)
Des Moines, la., August 17, 1908.
W. F. Holsinger, a former employe of the Jep-
son Piano Co., who disappeared last April alter
it was alleged that he had appropriated $700 of
the company's funds, returned to the city a few
days ago and was later arrested. When ar-
raigned before the judge he pleaded not guilty
and gave $1,000 bonds for his appearance Au-
gust 20.
COL. HOLLENBERG AND KING EDWARD.
Col. F. B. T. Hollenberg, of the Hollenberg
Music Co., while in England recently, attended
the Olympic games with a party of young ladies
from Little Rock, whom he met abroad, and occu-
pied a box next to that of King Edward and his
party. A pleasing exchange of courtesies took
place between the two parties. We may say,
however, that the Colonel is still the same demo-
cratic republican as before he met H. M.
F. N. GOOSMAN TAKES CHARGE.
F. N. Goosman succeeds J. D. Ritter as man-
ager of the Hallet & Davis Piano Co.'s branch
in Pittsburg, Pa., having been promoted to that
position from his former post, as manager of the
Toledo branch of the company.
FIGHTING FAKE ADVERTISING.
The Thomas & Barton Co., Augusta, Ga., are
making a strong fight against "fake" piano ad-
vertising in their city. They make it a point to
reproduce the resolutions against misleading ad-
vertising presented at the last convention by L.
H. Clement, New York manager for the Mason &
Hamlin, in their local announcements, and also
reproduce specimens of "Merry Widow" adver-
tisements and those offering stencils for sale and
$400 pianos for $200 or $250.
STORY & CLARK PIANOS FOR COLLEGE.
The E. B. Guild Music Co., Topeka, Kan., are
now delivering the large shipment of Story &
Clark pianos ordered through their house by the
Washburn College, the leading educational insti-
tution of Topeka.