The Piano Hoard: A Treasure MysteryIn 2017, 913 gold sovereign and half-sovereign coins were discovered in Shropshire, hidden inside a piano.
The piano had be purchased by Community College, Bishop’s Castle to use for music lessons. They decided to have it tuned and the coins were discovered by the piano tuner , neatly stacked in dusty hand-stitched packages and pouches carefully hidden beneath the instrument’s keyboard base. re. An inquest was opened at Shrewsbury Coroner’s Court to decide whether the discovery could be technically classed as treasure, and the hoard was kept in a secret location under lock and key. The mystery gold hoard was estimated to be worth around £350,000 and the hunt was on to find the owner of the potential treasure.
Research into the history of the piano showed it was made by London’s Broadwood and Sons, before being sold to
Beaven & Mothersole Piano Tuners, who were based in 27 West Road, Saffron Walden. Their name can be seen just above the keyboard.
Receipts show that they had purchased the piano direct from the London manufacturers in 1906, transporting it on the Great Eastern Railway.
Research has shown that the coins found date to between 1847 and 1915; so they originate from the reigns of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V. Some of the cardboard packaging in the pouches, which encased the coins, were taken from distinctive Shredded Wheat cereal boxes.
The style of the packaging suggests that the coins were concealed around the time of the Great Depression, when there was great economic hardship across the world.
In 1983, the piano was bought by the Hemmings family, residents of Saffron Walden. They owned the piano for 33 years, before moving to Shropshire and gifting it to their local college, The Community College, Bishop’s Castle, completely unaware of what was hidden inside.
So what happened to the piano between the time it was sold to Beaven & Mothersole and who hid the piano hoard?
"The identity of the person who hid the coins and their precise motivation will probably remain a fascinating unanswered question"
Peter Reavill, Shropshire Finds Liaison Officer
Sources
Activity: When, where and why was the piano hoard hidden?
Using the information and sources provided, can you discover more about when the piano hoard was hidden. Consider different sources of information and write a report on you findings.
Your report should follow the following structure Title: The Piano Hoard: When, where and why it was hidden IntroductionIntroduce your topic Main body of essay
Use this to get your argument across Conclusion
Use this to get your argument across Conclusion
Summarise your findings and write your conclusion.
Sources for research
BBC radio 4 documentary on the piano hoard
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09309h1
British Museum article
https://blog.britishmuseum.org/a-hoard-of-note/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09309h1
British Museum article
https://blog.britishmuseum.org/a-hoard-of-note/
The Great Depression
News Paper article
Essex records office - carry out your own research!
Acknowledgements
The Museum is thankful for the generosity of many individual donors, spurred on by the crowd funding campaign, which along with grants from the Saffron Walden branch of the Round Table, the Gibson Walden Fund, ACES Charity and Butler Smith Specialist Carriers, have enabled us to acquire a sample of this coin hoard, its packaging and the piano, and put them on public display.
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