August 1839

Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg presents three pianos at the state trade exhibition, hosted by the Aegis church in Braunschweig. Heinrch’s son, fourteen-year-old Christian Friedrich Theodor Steinweg participates in the exhibition, playing all three pianos. One of the pianos earns a gold medal “for tone and workmanship”, and Duke of Braunschweig buys it for 3,000 reichsmarks. By the standards of provincial craftsman, Heinrich Steinweg becomes rich and famous. This allows him to place his sons, Theodor and Heinrich, Jr., to Jacobson Institute (a.k.a. Jacobson Hochschule) – the finest private school in Seesen, and to purchase a 4,000-square-foot two-story house with a workshop, a large cellar, a 120-square-foot garden, and a veneer-cutting machine.