Piano sold for 60 euro in second-hand shop is worth 18,000 euro
Music-lover Veerle Deknopper couldn’t believe her eyes when she visited a shop selling second-hand goods donated by the public in Mechelen (Antwerp Province). There she saw and bought a piano for just 60 euro. Already pleased with having snapped up a bargain, Ms Deknopper was astounded when she found that the piano, that was made in 1890 is the same as that used by the French pianist Claude Debussy, is in fact worth 18,000 euro.
The piano caught her eye when she visited shop as “Mostly pianos aren’t worth much as they have a wooden frame or because the keys no longer work. But this piano had a metal frame that displayed the name “Pleyel”. Pleyel was a 19th century piano builder. My heart started to beat faster”, she told VRT Radio 2 Antwerp.
Pleyel kept a book in which a record was kept of who varnished the piano frame and who installed the chords. “On the piano is a serial number, which enabled me to check who had made which part of the piano. The original chords and varnish were still intact. This is extremely rare”, Veerle Deknopper told VRT Radio 2.
Similar piano sold for 18,000 euro
Veerle bought the piano for just 60 euro. Now she has learned that a similar piano was recently sold in France for 18,000 euro. However, the piano sold in France had undergone 300 hours of restoration work. "But my piano is also of great historical value as it still has all its original parts. It is currently out of key, but that will be resolved once it has been tuned”, Veerle Deknopper said.
Despite the great value of the piano its new owner has no plans to sell it. "The chance of finding something like this is really small. I am gone to put it in our music café in the hope of giving the piano a new lease of life”.