FEURICH SALES AND PRODUCTION BOOKS

For decades people thought these books were lost. Thanks to the wonderful help of Mrs. Kluttig we were able to look through these books in the Saxon State Archive - State Archive Leipzig in September 2017. Over 20 extensive books document very precisely the production of the important Julius Feurich Pianoforte Factory in Leipzig.

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 about each individual Feurich instrument, you will also find valuable information about deliveries to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg and J. D. Philipps in Frankfurt, and much more.

As Feurich was the most important and first supplier of Welte for Welte-Mignon, it is now possible for the first time to research concrete facts about the instruments supplied. Deliveries for Luna (Orchestrions) and Artist (=Mignon), which were manufactured for Popper & Co, are also documented. It is possible that important clues can also be found about the recording grand pianos for Welte-Mignon.

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

The books are generally well preserved - but have obviously been exposed to fire and are therefore very fragile and fragile. Since 2019 all books are in restoration, and will probably not be accessible again until 2021. The books have not yet been digitised - we are in close contact with the Saxon State Archives and will push ahead with the digitisation as quickly as possible, so that this wonderful content will be accessible to all interested parties and further research will be possible.

FEURICH-WELTE-PHILLIPS-POPPER

The sales books document the key role played by Feurich 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 very likely that Feurich delivered the wing pegs for the later recording wings of Welte-Mignon to Hugo Popper in Leipzig. Feurich delivered a total of 12 wing pegs to Hugo Popper. The first wing peg with ser no 17385 on October 12, 1904, followed by ser no 17383 and 17384 on November 2, 1904, ser no 17386 on December 30, 1904, ser no 17391 and 17393 on February 14, 1905, ser no 17394 on February 7, 1905 and 17394 on February 14, 1905. March 1905, ser no 17389 and 17390 on March 23, 1905, ser no 17387, 17388, 17392 on May 2, 1905. Not a single wing rest was delivered to M. Welte & Soehne in Freiburg according to these books. We list all serial numbers in detail here in order to locate one of these wings somewhere in the world. It may well be that these instruments still exist - but possibly without the recording technology?

Access to the books 1902-1903 was unfortunately no longer possible until then - there may have been important references to the beginnings of the Artist or Welte-Mignon, especially in 1903.

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

First Klavierraste to Welte

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

*but according to Feurich documentation this is the 7th delivery to Welte - further research is necessary in this point

First grand piano to Popper

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

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

Last Artist to Popper

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

*Further research is necessary in this point

Mignon with tuning key on Welte

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

First American Rest

1907, November 5th, the first so-called "American rest with tuning keyboard" (ser no 20699) for a US version of the cabinet is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg

First Klavierraste for high piano

1907, 7 November, 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 variant with Welte technology above the ratchet

First Stella to Popper

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

First DUCA to Philipps

1908, August 6th, the first DUCA (ser no 22737) "Pianino with Sapelimahagony 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 "for experimental purposes" to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg - 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 Combined

1923, October 8, the first Feurich piano (ser no 38203) "combined" (with foot operation) is delivered to M. Welte & Söhne in Freiburg

On the basis of the information available to us we can check 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 have access again to the documents currently under restoration.

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General note: We are grateful for voluntary donations in recognition and support of our great financial and time expenditure for the provision of such documents in our 'Fundus' section - within the framework of §60 c UrhG (German Copyright Act), expressly without the intention of making a profit. If you want to support this voluntarily, you can do so here.