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musical instrument details
MACKENZIE PIANO HARP! A RARE MUSEUM PIECE! A MINNESOTA MUSICAL TREASURE! BUY NOW
Estimated price for orientation: 3 000 $
Category: Contemporary
Class:
Description Year: 1890 Country/Region of Manufacture: United States Instrument: PIANO HARP-HAMMERED DULCIMER
This is an exceedingly rare piece. MUSEUM INQUIRIES WELCOME! This piano harp was manufactured by James Mackenzie in Minneapolis MN in 1890. He was born in 1845. The family moved to St. Paul in 1854 but after a couple of years moved to Hutchinson, MN where he grew up and went to school. James bought his first musical instrument (a violin) with the money he got from selling the skin of an otter. He married Eva Skinner of Spring Park, MN in 1880 and, from 1880 to 1891 James and Eva manufactured and sold Piano-Harps. They traveled all over this area and gave concerts to introduce this wonderful instrument to the public. In Nov. of 1891 James, Eva and their now two daughters were on their way to New York to form a large stock company to make and sell Piano-Harps when an accident with a train killed Eva and the two children. James married two more times and finally started a factory to produce his instruments in Minneapolis but it burned down and now only a few of these instruments still exist. I've been told their are roughly about 15 of these instruments in existence today. One is known to have sold for $3,000 in the 1980's which was in pieces and in need of much repair. This instrument has banded legs which means they had to be all hand carved. This made for an expensive instrument due to the exorbitant amount of time spent creating the banding by hand. This is in near perfect condition. It has never been refinished and has the dark color of the varnish used then. There is a crack across the sound board but that I was told is normal as they all get cracks in their sound board after time and in no way obscures the sound of the instrument. You need to see to appreciate. If you are interested in musical instruments and would like to have some of our Minneapolis History this would be a great item to own. I will include all the documentation I have on the instrument, along with the history and life story of James A. Mackenzie. Also this item is not as heavy as it looks. It doesn't weigh anything near what a piano does. It is considerably light since they were used by musical companies as they were traveling from city to city.
Description
| Year: | 1890 | Country/Region of Manufacture: | United States |
| Instrument: | PIANO HARP-HAMMERED DULCIMER |
This is an exceedingly rare piece. MUSEUM INQUIRIES WELCOME! This piano harp was manufactured by James Mackenzie in Minneapolis MN in 1890. He was born in 1845. The family moved to St. Paul in 1854 but after a couple of years moved to Hutchinson, MN where he grew up and went to school. James bought his first musical instrument (a violin) with the money he got from selling the skin of an otter. He married Eva Skinner of Spring Park, MN in 1880 and, from 1880 to 1891 James and Eva manufactured and sold Piano-Harps. They traveled all over this area and gave concerts to introduce this wonderful instrument to the public. In Nov. of 1891 James, Eva and their now two daughters were on their way to New York to form a large stock company to make and sell Piano-Harps when an accident with a train killed Eva and the two children. James married two more times and finally started a factory to produce his instruments in Minneapolis but it burned down and now only a few of these instruments still exist. I've been told their are roughly about 15 of these instruments in existence today. One is known to have sold for $3,000 in the 1980's which was in pieces and in need of much repair. This instrument has banded legs which means they had to be all hand carved. This made for an expensive instrument due to the exorbitant amount of time spent creating the banding by hand. This is in near perfect condition. It has never been refinished and has the dark color of the varnish used then. There is a crack across the sound board but that I was told is normal as they all get cracks in their sound board after time and in no way obscures the sound of the instrument. You need to see to appreciate. If you are interested in musical instruments and would like to have some of our Minneapolis History this would be a great item to own. I will include all the documentation I have on the instrument, along with the history and life story of James A. Mackenzie. Also this item is not as heavy as it looks. It doesn't weigh anything near what a piano does. It is considerably light since they were used by musical companies as they were traveling from city to city.