FEURICH SALES AND PRODUCTION BOOKS

These are the sales books, production books and register books, so that it is possible to search chronologically, by customer and by serial number. In addition to fantastic details on each individual Feurich instrument, there is also valuable information on deliveries to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg and J. D. Philipps in Frankfurt and much more.

As Feurich was Welte's most important and first supplier for Welte-Mignon, it is now possible for the first time to research specific facts about the instruments supplied. Deliveries for Luna (orchestrions) and Artist (=Mignon), which were manufactured for Popper & Co, are also documented. This may also provide important clues to the recording grand pianos for Welte-Mignon.

The production books contain all the work steps during the manufacture of an instrument, so that the names of the 11 different workers are explicitly recorded.

The books are in good condition overall - but some have obviously been exposed to fire and are therefore very fragile and brittle. All the books have been undergoing restoration since 2019. In the meantime, the books have been digitized - and thanks to the kind support of the Saxon State Archives, we were able to start evaluating the books.

FEURICH-WELTE-PHILIPPS-POPPER

The sales books document Feurich's key role in the success story of both the Welte-Mignon and the Philipps DUCA.

Julius Feurich was also a close friend of Hugo Popper. According to the information in the sales books, it is highly probable that Feurich supplied the grand piano rests for the later Welte-Mignon grand pianos to Hugo Popper in Leipzig. Feurich supplied a total of 12 grand piano rests to Hugo Popper. March 1905, ser no 17389 and 17390 on 23 March 1905, ser no 17387, 17388, 17392 on 2 May 1905. According to these books, not a single grand piano was delivered to M. Welte & Soehne in Freiburg. We list all the serial numbers in detail here in order to locate any of these grand pianos anywhere in the world. It may well be that these instruments still exist - but possibly without the recording technology?

Unfortunately, access to the 1902-1903 books has not been possible for quite some time. Now we have started to examine the important information on the beginnings of the Artist and Welte-Mignon in 1903 in particular.

Here are further details on important Feurich deliveries, some of which document technical innovation steps:

First grand piano rest to Welte

1904, 7 September, the first "Klavierraste 132" is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg*

*However, according to Feurich documentation, this is the 7th delivery to Welte - further research is necessary on this point

First grand piano rest to Popper

1904, 12 October, the first grand piano strung back is delivered to Hugo Popper in Leipzig

*Further research is necessary on this point, as Feurich did not number the deliveries to Popper & Co.

Last Artist to Popper

1905, 12 July, the last "Artist" (Popper trademark for "Mignon") of 21 delivered Artist is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg*

*further research required

Mignon with tuning keyboard to Welte

1905, 29 July is the start of deliveries of the ""Mignon" strung backs with tuning keyboards" to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg

First 'Amerikanerraste' delivered

1907, 7 November, the first Feurich "Mignon strung back with full/large keyboard" (ser no 20717) is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg - the version for the high piano version with Welte technology above the piano

Erste Raste für Hochklavier

1907, November 7, the first Feurich "Mignon Rast with full/large keyboard" (ser no 20717) is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg - the version for the high piano version with Welte technology above the piano

First Stella to Popper

1908, 25 April, the first Feurich "Stella" (ser no 21042) pianino is delivered to Hugo Popper in Leipzig

First DUCA to Philipps

1908, 6 August, the first DUCA (ser no 22737) "Pianino with sapele mahogany with electric double lights" is delivered to J.D. Philipps in Frankfurt

First grand piano to Welte

1912, 5 October, the first Feurich grand piano (ser no 27557) is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg "for experimental purposes" - the start of the availability of Welte-Mignon built into grand pianos

First DUCARTIST to Philipps

1922, 29 May, the first Feurich DUCARTIST pianino (ser no 36171) is delivered to J.D. Philipps in Frankfurt

First Welte 'Kombiniert'

1923, 8 October, the first Feurich pianino (ser no 38203) "Kombiniert" (with pedal action) is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg

Based on the information available to us, we can look up when your Feurich instrument was built and when it was delivered to the respective manufacturer of the self-playing technique, e.g. Welte, Popper, Hupfeld or Philipps.

Further details will follow as soon as we regain access to the documents currently being restored.