The Starr Piano Company of Richmond, Indiana, built very high quality pianos, particularly from 1893 through the 1920's, during which period they invariably won awards at international expositions. The rich, deep tone of their concert grands is rarely matched by pianos built in recent years, and I've yet to play an instrument that sounds better than my 1913 Starr Concert Grand.
      Starr Concert Grands feature a Louis XVI style 12-legged cabinet, with carved "picture frame" moldings decorating the eight foot long case, and music holder (as shown below). My Starr's case is made of quarter-sawn oak, a dense, hard wood which when cut against the grain displays a "flame" pattern. This is a rarity for a grand piano of its vintage. At the turn of the century, imported rosewood and mahogany were the preferred woods for expensive furnishings, and oak, despite its great strength and beautiful grain, was almost never used for grand pianos, because it was considered a cheap domestic wood.
      Antique pianos are surprisingly inexpensive, usually selling for three to five times less than a new piano of comparable quality. The 1891 mahogany Starr Concert Grand pictured below recently sold for $25,000. I paid even less for mine, thanks to a seller who was desperate for cash; but whatever it cost, between its beautiful tone and appearance, I'd be very happy to own my Starr.
      Starr pianos were featured in a number of films in the early to mid twentieth century, perhaps as an effort by the company to prop up sales by placing them in public view. For instance, in the 1933 Shirley Temple film, "Curly Top", a Starr is used to help establish the good taste and good connections (i.e., old money) of the male lead. John Boles, who played the part, sang a love song while playing a Starr Concert Grand in a room larger than most houses of the day.

Determining the Age of a Starr Piano
     If you own a Starr piano, and would like to know when it was made, check your local library or piano dealer, to see if they have a copy of the Pierce Piano Atlas, which gives the serial numbers of pianos manufactured in a given year for thousands of manufacturers. A comparison of the serial number of your piano to the Starr listing will tell you its date of manufacture (that's how I know mine was made in 1913).

An Interesting Accessory
     I recently discovered that in 1994, First Gear made a 1/34th scale model of a Starr Piano delivery truck, and was able to acquire one of the 810 examples. I don't know if Starr ever used a 1957 International Harvester truck like the one shown below, but the model is very well done, and looks very nice sitting in a display cabinet next to my piano.

(Image courtesy of Ed Hofmann, Big Ed's Truck Stop)

What Is My Starr Worth?
     Most people who stumble across this page want to know how much their Starr is worth. That depends upon how you value it. Before I bought mine, I played over a hundred pianos, ranging in price from 15 to 150 thousand dollars, and not one had as rich or musical a tone as the Starr; so to me, it was worth whatever I could afford to pay. My piano tuner says it is an exceptionally good piano, and should be insured for 70 thousand dollars, which is far more than what I paid, but considerably less than what it would cost to replace it with an equally good instrument. But if I tried to sell it I'd be lucky to get ten thousand dollars, because to most people, unless it's a Steinway, it's trash (most old Steinways are trash as well, but that's another matter).
     So if you value your Starr based on its cost, it's probably not worth much. But if you value it based on a love of the music it produces, it can be worth every penny it cost, and more.