Renovating an old Bösendorfer...

[rogerbann]

There is an old, from around 1845, out of tune Grand offered. It has been indoors, but stored for 30 years in a basement, scrathed and lost some ivories. All keys work mechanically and the soundboard seems intact.Do not know about the tuningboard yet. For an old Bösendorfer, where should/would/could you put an upper limit for restoration...will the instrument be worth it?

[indianajo]

Read wikipedia on piano action.
The modern piano action was codified about 1900 with the Herrberger-brooks merger, it says.  Somebody has edited out the Erhard portion of that article, so I don't know the date, but before that grands did not have a repeating lever.  The article does say something about a Schwander action improvement in 1844.
So no, I wouldn't pay a lot of money for a 1845 Bosendorfer however good the name is.  I buy pianos to play, not for prestige or resale.  A lot of post 1850 repretoire requires fast repetition of a single note.  Nights in the Garden of Spain comes to mind.  Repeating a single note with two hands is one of my tests that used pianos must pass before I consider moving it into my home.  A lot of ugly $50 consoles and free uprights will pass that test.  Try that test on the Bosendorfer, it would be interesting. 

[rogerbann]

Thank you for good advice. That action thing was news for me