Baby Challen 85 key upright piano with stool

Description

Compact 85-note format baby Challen. Made in England.

This instrument was purchased in 2022 from Forsyth's on Deansgate in Manchester. It was not a piano to command a high price tag and so I am told it was worked on as a labour of love by the restorer on the top floor of the prestigious establishment.

The smaller size made it easy to house in my Northern terrace and a great size to sit beside my young nephew to play with him. It comes with a complementing stool with two handles for easy movement and a hinged lid to access storage within the seat for music and other resources. The seat was adjusted to a height which fits under the keys as it was not the original. This is a well cared for item which has a tuning history since purchase 4 years ago. I believe it needs the middle D pad replacing. Tilting music stand as shown in photos, attached with a hinge. Some scuffs in the places where the lid and front get removed. Unable to locate the serial number to date it more reliably.

It creates interest with original Challen markings - the Omega Works label on the wood, as shown in the photographs in this advert, and the year the company was established on the iron frame.

The Challen brand began in 1804. The pianos were made at the historic Omega Works on Hermitage Road, Finsbury, London, N4. This factory supplied pianos to the BBC in the 1930s, so Challen's were heard in the early radio broadcasts, and they built the 'World's largest piano' to mark King George V's Silver Jubilee in 1935, entering the Guinness Book of Records. More recently, a Challen piano was based in a studio at Abbey Road in the 1960s, where recordings by The Beatles took place, notably the White Album and Magical Mystery Tour - 'The Fool on the Hill'. So you would be owning a piece of British history with this item!

Reluctantly selling as part of a divorce, so would invite offers. Happy to send more photographs or answer questions.