This is an excellent set of photos. Such a shame that the building has been allowed to rot.
Schiedmayer of Stuttgart made their first pianos in the latter half of the 19th century, and went out of business in the 60's. They were bought out by another company (can't remember who), which promptly stopped making them. A shame, because they were well-made and have a distinctive sound.
A fully working Schiedmayer can fetch anything from £5,000 to £15,000. Quite a sum, but I've seen pianos on here, rotting in derelict buildings, that would have once been worth considerably more. The biggest problem with restoring a Schiedmayer is that several parts are completely nonstandard, rather than variations on an established design. This makes replacement parts hard to get, and expensive.
Hate seeing musical instruments going to ruin.
Dirus_Strictus said:Is this house situated anywhere near a loch or other stretch of water? Your 'Cool little barrel on a rotten seat' was originally an early Victorian mooring buoy or mooring line float. The only place I have actually seen any in the flesh was in the grounds of a largish house some miles outside Wick - they had been converted into swing seats by hanging them from a very large iron frame.
Judging by the food pantry it hasn't been so long since people lived there. If you see a fine home standing vacant with furnishing inside (but looking picked-over), it's often a case of heirs battling each other. One refuses to sell, or hates the others so much that he obstructs any kind of estate settlement. I know a case where a man restored an 1850s plantation house. After he died, a brother who hated him inherited the place and deliberately let it rot. Hopefully the owners of this lovely house will get their ducks in a row. Looks salvageable, for now.
What a find. I do wonder what the kid felt like when he lost his or her teddy would hate to lose mine even at my age.The green bottle is an old Coates cider bottle from the 60s-70s very common to convert them to lamps the base was normally filled with sand to keep 'em stable.It's certainly a long way from home.
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