Sold Vintage 1932 Kimball Baby Grand Upright Piano Serial Number 420915

Vintage 1932 Kimball Baby Grand Upright Piano Serial Number 420915

Dimensions: Width 59” x Depth 23.5” x Height 45.75”

This piano was purchased by an Atlanta family in the 1960s and remained with them until a few months ago. The family is downsizing, and the piano is now available for purchase.

Disclosures: This set is in excellent condition with no signs of wear. (Please see the pictures for details.)

During the golden age of grand pianos, many piano manufacturers competed to gain market share and establish themselves as the industry leader. Kimball specifically became one of the giants in the space, juggling both quality and affordability while churning out grand and upright pianos on a scale seldom seen by piano manufacturers anywhere. However, like many great piano creators before and after, Kimball would eventually find itself transitioning away from the piano business. Below we’ll go into the rise and fall of this grand piano titan and the legacy they’ve left behind. Here is a brief history of Kimball pianos.

1857 | THE FOUNDING OF KIMBALL
William Wallace Kimball was born in Rumford, Maine, in 1828. Working as a real estate broker in his younger years, he liquidated his investments and moved to Chicago, Illinois. In 1857 he founded W.W. Kimball and Company as a piano and organ dealership. Based in Chicago, the company sold several brands, such as Chickering and Sons, Hallet-Davis, and other leading companies. W.W. Kimball began assembling reed organs for sale in 1877. Utilizing actions made by J.G. Earhuff and cases made by other contractors, he slowly moved toward full, in-house production. In three years, that goal was achieved, and he began offering organs for sale made entirely by his company. In 1882 a large factory was built to manufacture organs, and it was soon churning out as many as 15,000 of these instruments per year. Kimball would continue to see success and produce over 400,000 organs throughout their time in business.

KIMBALL ROLLS INTO THE 20TH CENTURY
As the piano grew in wild popularity toward the end of the 19th century, Kimball grew to meet the growing demand. In 1887 an imposing five-story factory was constructed to build Kimball pianos. With the early instruments suffering from mediocrity, he quickly hired piano veterans from companies like Steinway & Sons and Bechstein to improve the build quality of the instruments. These early years saw Kimball push their pianos aggressively, especially in the Midwest. Kimball made his pianos a household name using an army of door-to-door salesmen and dealerships. The W.W. Kimball Company continued to expand through the years, with player pianos being experimented with during 1901 and phonographs produced between 1915 and 1925.

Pickup DetailsThese items are in a gated mini warehouse less than one mile off Covington Highway and I-285. Pick-ups are by appointment only.

Items must be retrieved either Thursday, March 28, or Friday, March 29, appointment unless you coordinate an alternate acceptable arrangement with the seller before winning the auction. Text 404-431-7249 for more information