That's criminal!
These are the photos of my "new" 1925 Chickering Ampico, posted in Off Key:
Here is a closeup of the fallboard decal. That finish is pretty badly crackled:
This is it on the dolly, with the drawer closed. There are wooden covers for the lead tubes visible in the photo, they're just not in place in the photos.
With the drawer extended. The leather covers are original - I'm surprised to see them, especially in this good of condition:
This is with the covers removed, so you can see the reproducer components:
All of the labels you see are hand-made by the seller's grandfather, with masking tape(
) and pencil. So far, he impresses me as a meticulous, somewhat misguided amateur/shade tree mechanic. I found bags with tings like old rubber motor mounts, a couple of valve blocks, and repair supplies literally stuffed into cavities around the motor - left from 1983. Some of the labels have his comments written on them, anything from a piece of cover from inside the spoolbox that he didn't know how to reinstall, to a comment on the dried out rubber motor mounts.
This is it set up finally. It will be interesting to see how it looks after I get done cleaning up the finish:
With the lid and fallboard up. the keys are the original ivory, without the slightest hint of yellow:
The 1923 six foot Chickering is in the background.
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