Daniel Schmutz in Switzerland asks [030729 MMDigest]:

> At first I thought that it has to be a French piano, but then I noticed
> the label under the keyboard.  The text is in German: "Begleitung",
> which means accompaniment.  The serial number is "MOD. IV 38396".
> On the top of the cast iron frame there is written "Steck", and on the
> bottom "Steck 2".  On the black bar (where the wind-motor and the stack
> is mounted) there is "The Aeolian Company New York".  On the large
> bellows there is a paper with a list of all the patents in the USA,
> U.K. and France (the latest dated to the 11th Jan. 1910).
>
> The finish of the piano is black shellac, which I've never seen on
> other Steck pianolas.

There were only two Steck factories in Europe: at Gotha, Saxony (the
building is still in place), and at Hayes, Middlesex (demolished 1979,
roll factory saved thanks to ornate brickwork).

Because of the German details and the date, your piano has to be a
Gotha Steck.  The Aeolian Co bought the Ernst Munck piano factory there
on 6th July 1905, and production ran until the start of the First World
War in 1914, when the factory was paralyzed by strikes.  The factory
managed to persuade the German government they were an offshoot of the
Choralion Co in Berlin, rather than Orchestrelle Co in London, but the
factory was officially pillaged for materials and, with no coal or
electric motors, had to suspend operations.  There were, however,
stocks of finished pianos, and many Stecks in England bear the date
1915, suggesting they were cleared after 1918.

Full production didn't start again immediately after the war, the
Aeolian Co in London dragging its feet with excuses, but this was
probably thanks to anti-German feeling in England.  Around 1922
Aeolian started making (by comparison) inferior Steck pianos at Hayes.
However, these were notably different from the Weber pianos they had
been making there from 1908 onwards.

In 1924 the Aeolian Co had its financial disaster (something to do with
a mortgage on the US Weber plant; Rex Lawson will know what) and had to
sell things quickly to stay afloat; Gotha was sold to competitor
Ludwig Hupfeld AG.  Whereas Aeolian had left the Munck plant to do its
own thing -- and very effectively too; these must have been the finest
non-famous-name pianos in Europe -- Hupfeld started trying to make
economies and lost the faith of the workforce.  Piano-making stopped
there altogether in 1927, a tragic date for those who love pianos.

All this detail comes from Rex Lawson's article on Gotha Steck, in the
Pianola Journal No 13 (2000).

I've never seen a black japanned Gotha Steck upright, but black Pianola
grands from 1913 (the year when Steinway started making japanned
grands) are not unknown here in England.  The serial number suggests
this is the year of Daniel's piano, too.

Dan Wilson, London