This Steinway & Sons Studio Grand Piano (M-Series) was manufactured in the New York facility in 1912. The M-Series was introduced in 1911, making this piano one of the earliest in the series (M-157866). It was purchased in 1913 by B. Drehers & Son of Cleveland, Ohio.  B. Drehers & Son was a piano sales company in Cleveland; the company was sold in 1928 to Chicago-based Lyon & Healy. Lyon & Healy continued operation in Cleveland until they closed in 1953. This piano may have been sold to other individuals between the original 1913 sale and the sale to the Willis family in 1966, but I haven't found a way to track that (if it exists).

Mom and Dad bought it after it was refurbished and it has remained in the Willis family for the past 56 years. Since 1966, it has only resided in temperature-controlled environments, a home in Richland Hills, TX (1966-1974) and its current home in Wise County (1974-2022). It was refurbished again in the late 1980s or early 1990s, (an excruciating six weeks for Mom to be without her beloved piano!) and it was last tuned in 2015.

It has been used for piano lessons, practice and general enjoyment and entertainment. Mrs Willis was a gifted pianist, beginning lessons in 1943 at the age of 6. She quickly progressed to skillfully playing every genre of music from classical to ragtime and ‘boogie-woogie’, but her favourite genre was hymns and contemporary worship music. There is some slight evidence of wear on the sustain pedal, the fallboard, and the music rack; however, the keys, hammers, and strings are all in perfect working order, with no rattles or other extraneous sounds. This is an exceptional instrument with a full, rich sound only present in well-seasoned Steinway pianos; it simply needs to be professionally tuned in order to be a concert-worthy instrument. 

The Steinway M-Series is 58” wide and 67” long, with a weight of around 606 pounds. Each Steinway & Sons Piano is totally hand-crafted, taking 11 months for completion. A new M-Series piano is listed by Steinway at $74,200.