Summer 1897

Charles and Frederick Steinway and Henry L. Ziegler, desperate to keep the company functional and unable to raise the necessary capital, decide to sell Steinway & Sons to an anonymous English syndicate for $6,000,000. They plan to remain with the company as employees and directors, and the new business entity is to be called Steinway & Sons, Ltd., London. Charles Steinway sails to London in order to complete the secret negotiations with the syndicate. Ironically, on the day of his departure, Charles Steinway misses the telegram from London, informing him that the deal has been cancelled. In London, Charles Steinway will make every attempt to make the sale, but won’t succeed.