Old Harp

[jonathan-gronlund]

Hallo!

Does anyone know what kind of harp this is?

I would be gratetful for every answer!

[marcia-farkas]

I’m guessing this harp could be a single-action Erard harp made in London around 1810. Sebastian Erard might have made this one. I think it is Beautiful! A harp technician would give you more information.

[jonathan-gronlund]

Thank you! I am offered to buy for around 1.700 euro.

[jonathan-gronlund]

Do you think thats a good price? i dont know how expensive it would be to put it in a playable condition.

[marcia-farkas]

Oh, I don’t know. I just had a harp built in 1911 re-done, it came out Great! You should do more investigating and ask an expert!

[jonathan-gronlund]

Okay, do you know anyone i can turn to?

[eliza-morrison]

Jonathan, I would recommend you consult with Howard Bryan (www.hbryan.com) and/or Carl Swanson (www.carlswansonharps.com). Both are in the States and can help you with identification, costs, and restoration advice in general. Both do exquisite work.

[Sylvia]

Jonathan, I can’t tell if you are buying it or selling it.
Would that be around $2,000? I looked up euro = $1.35, I think it was.
I would charge at least 10 times that much and only sell it to a museum!
I thought 1810 was when Erard started making the double action harps.

[jonathan-gronlund]

Sylvia. I am buying it. The exact sum is 2257 usd, 15000 swedish kroner.

[jonathan-gronlund]

The harp does not seem to have any factory name on it, maybe it has been restored at some time.

[Sylvia]

I’m certainly not any kind of authority. It’s just that it looks like harps you see in museum photos. Seems like it would be valuable.

[Tacye]

It looks very interesting to me – but the sort of interesting that would not be a good choice if you want this as your first harp to play. And it definitely should be restored only by a knowledgeable professional. (Mike Parfett is one of several good people in the UK – rather closer than the US names you were given.)

Irritatingly, the third photo won’t enlarge for me, but I think it may have the mechanism where the tuning pins themselves turn to give semitones. This was not a success as it broke too many strings, and I am not sure how accurate it was. But looking at it there are single action pedals but there do not seem to be tuning pins above the mechanism. Any chance of a better picture?

[paul-knoke]

This is, as Tayce correctly identified it, a cheville mechanism harp from ca. 1790 – 1800. There was a maker in Sweden producing these, and there are several in the collection of the Musik Museet in Stockholm. The price seems reasonable if the harp is in as good condition as it appears to be in the photos. That’s about what unrestored early pedal harps usually sell for at auction here in the U.S. Depending on where you are located, Mike Parfett, Beat Wolf or Rainer Thurau would all be good resources for restoration.

[jonathan-gronlund]

Thank you wery much. Here is a link with the stockholm music museums collection of harps if your intrested.
http://instrument.statensmusikverk.se/samlingar/sokinst.php?l=sv&mmcss=&saml_open=1&typ=1&niv=3&hk=13&uk=184

[jonathan-gronlund]

The harp has 8 pedals. The extra pedal is to open and close the slots that are covering the resonance holes.

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