Our Antique Pump Organ Brought Back to Life

One of the coolest pieces of decor in the house is our antique pump organ in the foyer. It came to us by accident: the Homestake Opera House up in Lead was holding a benefit auction a few years back, and the organ was one of the donations. We weren't able to be there, but we had family in the room, and they thought it would be perfect in our place. They showed up at our door about an hour later wondering where they should put it. 

We don't know a lot about it. It's from the late 19th century, and it has a brass plaque that says it was donated by the Ball family in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Everett G. Ball, Bingham Canyon, Utah. We tried to play it shortly after we got it, but we couldn't get it to do much more than moo. We figured the bellows were leaky, and we hoped we'd get it restored someday. 

Then our friend Grace came for a visit and decided to give the old girl a try. The results were... unexpected. 

Super pretty! Thanks for playing, Grace. Can you come back for Halloween?