ANOTHER ROYAL BABY DUE ON 13TH MAY
(and this one weighs in at 485 lbs!)
The public will get its first glimpse of another Royal baby due on 13th May, in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Much more tuneful and rather heavier than your average infant, it will be put up for adoption immediately, having lived at Buckingham Palace once before.
That is because it is Queen Victoria’s personal piano.
Private bidding has already opened on an exceptionally rare Royal baby grand piano – with impeccable manners and provenance – 126 years after its original home in Buckingham Palace, where it spent the first five years of its life.
The baby grand, technically, a ‘boudoir grand’ was made by English manufacturer, John Broadwood & Sons. It was delivered to the Palace on 11th November 1887, during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee year for the monarch’s personal use.
Many years later, following royal custom, Victoria’s piano was given to a member of the Royal household, a Mrs F Boston, on the occasion of her wedding.
In the intervening period the instrument played a leading role in the life-long love affair between Eugenie Schumann, daughter of Robert and Clara Schumann, and Marie Fillunger, the renowned international soprano.
While Broadwood company records show the piano was hired in the name of Miss Fillunger it was Eugenie who played it for several seasons in London where they lived together. The two were later buried next to each other in the Gsteig cemetery in Interlaken, Switzerland.
Stephen Pringle founder of Sherwood Phoenix is a leading historic piano dealer and auctioneer said: ‘it’s really rather special: we’re talking well into six figures here.’
“While the world celebrates the recent arrival of Prince Louis this is the only Royal Baby we at Sherwood Phoenix are ever likely to hold.
“Serious interest has been building in Victoria’s piano from all over the world since we have given it pride of place in our Mansfield showroom, viewers have travelled from as far as America, China and Bangkok.
“Bidding is already in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Two of Victoria’s undergarments recently fetched more than £16,000 a pair and her billiard table went for almost £1m.
“Victoria’s baby grand still plays beautifully and would grace any house or international museum. The romantic Schumann provenance has huge appeal too.
“You might even say this is Victoria’s best kept secret – musically speaking, of course.”
Public viewing of this “baby” will remain open at The Grand Hall until the conclusion of Sherwood Phoenix 13th May 2018 Piano auction, the largest piano auction in the UK this year. All written offers will be shown to the vendor at 12.00 noon on the 14th May 2018. With over £500,000.00 worth of instruments to offer, there are Steinways, Bosendorfers and many other fine instruments to explore.
