tevie's $85,000 Auctioned Piano: Authentic or Just a Dream?
 

I saw an auction for a piano that reportedly belonged to SN, selling for $85,000. The certificate of authenticity looks legitimate, but I have a few questions and observations about it.

• Size: The piano looks smaller in the photos. Does anyone know what size it actually is? Could it be a baby grand or even something more compact?
  
• Relacquering: According to the listing, the piano was relacquered, but the keys are original. Would you have relacquered it? Personally, I think the original wear adds character and history, so I’d have left it as-is.
  
• Yamaha Logo: A photo in the listing shows Stevie playing a piano that appears to have a Yamaha logo. Does this indicate it wasn’t her main songwriting piano? Do we have any pictures of her playing any Hamilton at all, let alone this one?

Here’s the auction listing for reference: https://www.gottahaverockandroll.com...-LOT56052.aspx
For additional background, here’s another resource: https://relix.com/news/detail/stevie...ds-to-auction/

Could this be the real deal, or is the story being stretched a bit? If you have any insight on her pianos or thoughts about the relacquering, I’d love to hear them.

I don't know about the relacquering. I don't play piano. I'd buy it just to look for Christine DNA in the keys, to clone her. And Freddie's! :)

But I do find interesting the story included. I don't know if it may be stretched, I have some doubts about the accuracy. Maybe some experts here can comment. For example, Stevie owned the piano in the mid 70s, Could she afford a piano in 1975, when she was just starting her career? And did she take it to her appartment during the Sausalito days? I mean how did Christine use it while writing Songbird?

It started in 1975, when Robbie Patton first met Stevie Nicks. Robbie Patton was just starting out his career as a musician and was trying to start a relationship with Stevie. Their friendship became a lifelong one. When Robbie first went to Stevie’s home, he noticed this grand black Hamilton piano and was mesmerized by it. Per Robbie, “One day, I'm in the house of Stevie and she has two pianos, one of them was this black Grand Hamilton Piano where she wrote most of her songs on. She wrote everything on the Piano, she really cherished it as her own.”

Stevie composed and wrote many songs on this piano, including her hit song "Sara". Robbie eventually landed the opening act for Fleetwood Mac in 1979 and that’s when the Piano went on tour with Fleetwood Mac.

Per Robbie, “Then in 1979 Fleetwood Mac took the piano on the road. Christine used it on tour. She played it all over, she even composed Songbird from the album Rumours on this piano.”

The piano was then used by Christine McVie on stage until around 1982-1983. At this point the piano is returned to Stevie in her home. Robbie was still writing music for Fleetwood Mac and for one song he wrote, as payment he requested the piano. Stevie had no problems doing this, so she gifted him the Piano, the one Robbie was after for over 10 years.

Once Robbie got the piano, he started to use it with all the musicians in the studio. Per Robbie, “I used to work for all the big musicians, Elton John, for four and a half years. John Reid managed Elton John and then Queen. Freddie Mercury even came by for a recording session and used the piano. Elton John used the piano. The people who have touched this piano are crazy!”

The piano has been refurbished and lacquered, but the keys have never been changed. The keys are all original and are the exact keys of which Stevie Nicks used for countless years to compose some of her biggest songs, the same keys that Christine McVie used on stage for Fleetwood Mac during their golden years touring. Even the same keys that Freddie Mercury, Elton John and many more artists used in the studio.

I've never heard of this auction house. I know Julien's Auctions in LA is the real deal, they are the ones that did the Chris/Mick/John auction and then a subsequent second auction of Christine's stuff. I bought something from them in the first round.

The auction house for this piano claims to provide the following:

Provenance: From the collection of Robbie Patton.

Authentication: Stevie Nicks Letter of Authenticity, a Christine McVie Letter of Authenticity, a Roger Epperson (REAL) Letter of Authenticity (For the authentication of the Stevie Nicks & Christine McVie signatures), a Notarized letter of provenance and a Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.

I was there at Christine's, in person. When her fukcing SOAP DISH went for $900, I gave up and left.

Christine played a Hamilton grand onstage in the mid 1970s but switched to a Yamaha CX probably for the Rumours tour (and then on).

Stevie possibly took a few of Christine’s cast-offs for her personal use (or bought new based on what Chris was using onstage).

I think Robbie’s dates are all screwy for that description but the gist is probably likely — that Stevie used that piano at home for a time.

In the 2014 tour, Mick said the Yamaha keyboard Christine used there was the same from before she retired. But she was going to get rid of this, and Stevie kept it hoping she would come back one day. And she did.

Oh good lort, you actually believe any drivel that comes out of that delusional lunatic's pie hole?

I seriously doubt that any "top of the line" keyboard from 1997 was still acceptable in 2014. Her Hammond chop? Yes. She was playing a Yamaha CP4 on the BuckVie tour.

Google is showing me the CP4 for 2014 as well(not saying Google is right, butt.....)

No, I didn't say I believe it. With Mick you never know. I'm just telling the story. But I do know that though Stevie and Christine were not near Mick when he told that, they were in the same site. If he lied, C&S probably decided to ignote him, so as not to start another usual Fleetwood Mac mess.

Yes it was a CP4, I have this picture from the 2014 NJ concert and you can see the model name. I don't know anything about pianos and keyboards, but yes, Wikipedia mentions it's from 2014. Though I found a thread in forum.pianoworld.com from november 2013 where the CP4 is described as "a performance piano, possibly the best one Yamaha have made so far in this respect.".

So I agree it is unlikely to be from the 20th century. Probably Mick confused keyboard with keychain. :)

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Mick and Stevie are both liars, and also practice revisionist history.

Sad memory, but at the second show of BuckVie(I was front row), they started a song with her playing the wrong sound. She didn't know how to change it, so they had to stop the song, her tech come out and change the sound for her, then restart the song.