Cleansing, Eviction and What is in a name?

Well I have had some time to get accoustomed to a new lady in the house. I still think she is is really sweet. Her restoration will likely take many years. I am trying to do everything with as little possibility for destruction as I can. Since I am an amatuer, any restoration and repair I make needs to be reversable to maintian her integrity as an original instrument.

My first steps have been to clean her interior up, evict the residents and have her pose for a few photographs. The photographs will provide me with reference points when we get to the more intricate aspects of what makes her sing. It will also be a way to track my progress and the improvements made.

Upon opening her lid one can see how original she still is. When pianos were shipped from the factory they had a little fabric pouch fashioned on the interior for holding the key that operates the lock on the fallboard (keyboard cover).
If you look at the image above, you can see the key is still there, as shipped. Remarkable since few pianos this age still have there original key. Above the key stamped into the wood you find "Laurence and Cope 987". This is how I know she was sold from the Rhodesian dealership "Laurence and Cope". It was custom to stamp the number of the instrument sold back then.

In another display of how original she is the music rack which folds to the inside still has its original felt packaging holding it to stop it bouncing around during shipping. It can be seen in the bottom left of the pic.

I mentioned eviction in the heading. Eviction and exhumation is a more accurate description. I have had to evict the living occupants and remove sundry carcasses of critters who used Lyra as a burial ground. The critters constituting an assortmant of moths, spiders, fishmoths, beetles and other things with legs.

The one essential live eviction was that of a certain Miss. B. Widow. Miss Black Widow had taken up residence in the top left corner of the action cavity. She seemed friendly enough, but one cannot take chances.

Quite a looker dont you think?

Cleaning at this stage mostly entailed dusting down and vacumming the interior of Lyra. She seemed appreciative of the attention. Her strings would vibrate and humm in approval, as the air was shifted around them.
Lastly the question must be asked, What is in a name? I had contemplated names with musical association. Lyra appealed to me as a name. It is feminine, and musical. When I vacummned her she sung like a harp (the latin meaning of Lyra). I was still undecided though.

Taking pictures I observed a blemish it the casting of her iron plate. It can be seen above, midway up the picture to the right of the strings. Since I am documenting every inch of her, I zoomed in and photographed the blemish. Flash was on, since I was working at night. Later I was examing the pictures I took on the PC. The blemish in the casting took on a new form for me. I can see it was there by design.
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Name Confirmed I would say.