Steinway Vertegrand Piano commissioned for the RMS Olympic Liner, sister to the Titanic

RMS Olympic Steinway Vertegrand Piano.

Make:     Steinway Vertegrand
Serial Number:     157550
Age:     1912
Wood:     Walnut

Rebuilt, 1912, Steinway Vertegrand upright piano with a quartered walnut case. Cabinet features carvings of rolling waves, strapwork and beading highlighted with gold. The front panel is inlaid with walnut in a sunburst design and features a gold oval with a beading surround, draped with swagged bellflowers and a central cartouche. Piano has spiral, fluted Sheraton legs also carved with waves and leaves, highlighted with gold. Piano has an eighty-eight note keyboard and two pedals.

Piano was commissioned for the RMS Olympic Liner, sister to the Titanic and was located in the first class, a la carte area of the ship. RMS Olympic was a British ocean liner and the lead ship of the White Star Line's trio of Olympic-class liners. Olympic had a career spanning 24 years from 1911 to 1935, in contrast to her short-lived sister ships, Titanic and Britannic. Olympic was the largest ocean liner in the world during 1910-13.

Steinway Records show the piano left the Hamburg factory unfinished and was sent to their London branch to be decorated by Harland & Wolff's interior decoration company Aldam Heaton in Louis XVI style with gilt carvings. Aldam Heaton & Co 28 - 29 Baker Street was the interior designer on the Olympic. Heaton (1828-97) established a partnership with Richard Norman Shaw and was part of William Morris' circle. He also edited four volumes on 18th-century furniture.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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