[raymondot]

Hello what a great site! I have just purchased a "boudoir" grand piano serial no 5034 with the name Hoffmann on a transfer on the fall. I doubt that it is a Hoffmann but there are no other names on the piano and a curved plate about 8" x 3" which would have been held on with 2 screws to the cast frame has been removed. The only identifier that I can see is a moulding in the casting near to one of the sound holes which is about 2" in diameter and consists of a pitcher (jug) with a letter C in the middle and with the pitcher handle on the right hand side of the symbol.
Does this mean anything to anybody?

[Bill Kibby]

When you say that you doubt it, you have to realise that there have been a whole lot of different pianos called Hofmann, Hoffman, Hoffmann, Haufmann etc.. Seial numbers won't help you. The pitcher mark on the frame suggests that this is a British one, perhaps early 1900s, but such grands are incredibly difficult to assess for age, because they were som similar over such a long period. Ask your tuner to check over the action for marks and numbers, and look at the Datemarks link at pianogen.org
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I do not buy, sell or value pianos, but I sometimes rescue pre-1890 pianos in the UK.

Have a look at the Datemarks page on my own website: http://www.pianogen.org

Piano History Centre