Penny Owsley Piano

[Mama T]

I am trying to find out about the history of the Penny Owsley company. I know that they were in Long Beach, Ca. and changed owners in I think 1967 or so. I have a baby grand Penny Owsley, I think it is somewhat old based on it's design. Does anyone have a ball park of what it may be worth? It has 3 pedals instead of 2, or where could I look to get more info?

[handyczech]

Penny Owsley, just like the other grand old names of music retail like Sherman-Clay, Jenkins, Lyon Healy, Grinnells, and others, were large enough and famous enough intheir localities to have their names applied to pianos as if they were the manufacturer. Everett, Kohler & Campbell, and Aeolian made stencil pianos for all these. Grand pianos could have been Packard-Schulz or Brambach or somebody else. This is from the pre-1960's eras and the exact maker might not be known without expert on-site inspection. Post 1960 stencils could have been Japanese, more likely Korean or Indonesian.
Hammond Organs may be found with a dealer decal to the right and between the keyboards. I have seen people advertise a Penny-Owsley Hammond organ. Utter nonsense. Like a resident of Tucson saying they have a Jim Click Ford.

Most of the stencil pianos, new and old, are ordinary and have no special enduring value.

[Charles Runyon]

If you could write more info as to the comdition of this piano, it may be worth quite a bit. They sold all sorts of brands and were one of the first Yamaha dealers of LA. They were big enough that they had deals in place to replace the manufacters name with their own.