Until the mid-1920s, Bosendorfer made only a few hundred pianos a year; this production fell rapidly during the Great Depression and ceased altogether in the final years of the Second World War, when the company’s offices were destroyed by heavy fighting, and its wood reserves and pianos used for firewood. Revival in the postwar period was slow and painful, with production not exceeding 100 pianos a year until 1950. Then in 1966 Arnold H. Habig , president of Kimball International Inc., bought the company with the aim of using Bosendorfer’s expertise to revitalize the Kimball range of pianos. The acquisition, unlike many similar buyouts, turned out to be an extremely successful one for both companies until January 2002, when Bosendorfer broke ties with the Kimball organization. Today backed by the Austrian banking group BASAG-P. S. K., Bosendorfer have fully regained their position among the world’s greatest makers of fine pianos.
Dates and serial numbers when the pianos were manufactured
1828 | 4 |
1830 | 200 |
1840 | 490 |
1850 | 3000 |
1860 | 5000 |
1870 | 6400 |
1880 | 9300 |
1890 | 12200 |
1900 | 15640 |
1910 | 19250 |
1920 | 22530 |
1930 | 25350 |
1940 | 26290 |
1950 | 26960 |
1960 | 28017 |
1970 | 29109 |
1980 | 33444 |
1990 | 40384 |
2001 | 45695 |