My understanding is that Mason & Hamlin made exactly three 7-footers
with the "B" mechanism.  About 25 years ago I was present at an auction
held at Richmond Piano Company (then on Cary Street) in Richmond,
Virginia, where one of these (serial number not recorded) was
auctioned.  I dropped out of the bidding at $22,000 and I believe it
went for $27,000 or $28,000.  At the time it was not clear who the
winner was; it could have been someone on one of the open telephone
lines, but it appeared they wished to remain anonymous.

I have often wondered where this piano went.  My research at the time
indicated one of the other two 7-foot B's had been stripped of the
Ampico components but subsequently "restored" with available components.
I do not recall the fate of the third, but it appeared the one I am
talking about may have been the only one of the three to be complete
and original.  My understanding is that it had come from a local church
in Richmond.

I recently contacted the principal at Richmond Piano to see if, after
this amount of time, they had any releasable information about the
instrument.  His recollection, without a manual search into paper
records that were created before computers were used extensively for
record keeping, was that the piano had gone to "somewhere in the
Midwest".  Does anyone have any information about this piano, its
whereabouts and present condition?  It was a "plain case" dark mahogany
finish with the close-spaced, angled, tapered double legs typical of
the period.

John Grant