(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz.)

Engelhardt Piano Company coin piano, No. 1596. The Model/Style assignment, if any, is unknown. The quartered oak cabinet has a golden oak finish. Instrumentation consists of a 44-note piano and a mandolin attachment. This cabinet piano is built from a combination of old and new parts. The cabinet is significantly wider than the old Peerless 44-note piano that has been installed, requiring vertical boards on both sides of the piano to be fitted between the piano sides and the furniture case, so as to more or less accommodate the old 44-note piano. The geometric design of the art glass panel is reminiscent of art glass of a similar design common in the Engelhardt Model A coin pianos, which are keyboard style upright pianos with a wide rectangular art glass panel above the keyboard. There are two control switch knobs on the upper front of the case, the left side knob being a two-way switch for Mandolin, with two knob positions, Automatic on or off. The control knob on the right side of the case is a three-way switch for modulating the loudness of the instrument, with knob positions for Soft, Automatic, and Loud.

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz.)

Engelhardt Piano Company coin piano, No. 1596. This cabinet style coin piano consists of an early 44-note Peerless piano back and piano action, which in this photograph it is easy to see the necessary side-shimming required for the old, salvaged, narrow 44-note piano to fit the wider case width. Moreover, the old piano is operated by a modern Simplex pneumatic stack. Other new, up to date, components include an Engelhardt rewind roll mechanism that plays standard style “A” coin piano rolls, an Engelhardt style rotary vacuum pump, and a coin slot magazine that can accumulate up to 20 plays.

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz.)

Niagara/Engelhardt Piano Company 56-note cabinet piano, serial number unknown. This “Engelhardt” coin piano started out as a Niagara 56-note coin piano, possibly as a Niagara 56-note Violophone, which was a 56-note piano accompanied by a rank of violin and violoncello pipes housed in a swell chamber located at the bottom of the case. It was manufactured by the Niagara Musical Instrument Company, North Tonawanda, New York, which reportedly went out of business by early to mid 1914.

However, after the piano’s later transformation by the Engelhardt Piano Company, it became another one of Engelhardt’s undocumented rebuilds. Instrumentation now consisted of a 56-note piano with a mandolin attachment—the piano now playing the standard style “A” coin piano music rolls. Whether it was ever given a specific model or style designation is unknown. All that remains of the original Niagara Violophone, or whatever it was called, is the quartered oak cabinet and the 56-note piano. Everything else was tossed aside by Engelhardt, and the “new” Engelhardt cabinet piano was fitted out with an art glass panel, a new Simplex stack, an Engelhardt rewind roll mechanism, an Engelhardt rotary vacuum pump, and given a Peerless style coin slot and new coin magazine that could accumulate up to 20 plays. And possibly a new electric motor was also installed. Thus, all that remained of the original Niagara coin piano was the wooden case and 56-note piano, with an all new player components being installed by the Engelhardt Piano Company. This specimen is a good example of how Engelhardt was recycling old and timeworn pianos and equipment in whatever way might be profitable.

(Photograph courtesy of Art Reblitz.)

Niagara/Engelhardt Piano Company 56-note cabinet piano, serial number unknown. In this interior view of the Niagara/Engelhardt coin piano, the top row of lettering on the piano plate is obscured by the case, and so only the lower line of lettering, “North Tonawanda NY,” is visible, but with the exception of the coin magazine, all of the new player components are clearly visible. All that physically remains of the original Niagara Musical Instrument Company build is the quartered oak furniture case, and the 56-note piano. The Engelhardt Piano Company added everything else, which included a new Simplex stack (that plays all 56 piano notes), an Engelhardt rewind roll mechanism for playing standard style “A” coin piano rolls, an Engelhardt rotary vacuum pump, and a Peerless style coin slot with a new coin magazine capable of accumulating up to 20 plays.

There are two control knobs on the upper front of the case. If this instrument follows the traditional layout of other Engelhardt built coin pianos, the left side knob is probably a two-way switch for Mandolin, with two knob positions, Automatic on or off. The control knob on the right side of the case is probably a three-way switch for modulating the loudness of the instrument, with knob positions for Soft, Automatic, and Loud. Exactly how the expression control switch on this instrument is configured is unknown. The style “A” coin piano roll has a chain perforation for soft, which generally lifts the hammer rail. And yet, sitting on top of the bass end of the Simplex piano stack there appears to be a soft expression pneumatic with a bypass pneumatic for loud, which may take the place of a hammer rail lift pneumatic.