How the records are built
Every dating range in the archive comes from a published source: a maker’s own serial list, a historical catalogue, or a documented reference work. Milestone charts are converted into ranges, each range keeps its source, and conflicting published estimates are shown as such instead of being silently merged. Where the records do not support an answer — a student line, an uncovered period, a maker that publishes nothing — the archive says so.
The rules
- No invented dates. A “no match” answer means the records do not support a date, not that the instrument is suspicious.
- Every record cites its source, and the archive shows a confidence level.
- Serial charts mark allocation years, so answers are ranges — here is why.
Who runs it
The archive is maintained as an independent reference project, alongside a small family of instrument lookup sites: pianolookup.com, keyboardlookup.com and sewinglookup.com. Corrections and source pointers are welcome at the contact page.