Texas-born expert on historic pianos, Paul McNulty, renovates the last piano that Frederic Chopin played and composed on, at the Chopin museum in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pleyel made the instrument, with serial number 14810, available to Chopin, already seriously ailing at the time, in the fall of 1848. After Chopin's death in October 1849, the piano was bought by his Scottish student and friend, Jane Stirling, who then offered it to Chopin's eldest sister, Ludwika Jedrzejewiczowa.

The piano arrived in Warsaw in 1850 — it still bears the red customs seal of Russia that ruled Warsaw at the time. It survived two world wars, including the destruction of the 1944 Warsaw Rising.

Given the provenance and the good condition of the instrument, McNulty said it is "priceless."

Texas-born McNulty says this is the "best preserved Pleyel piano in the world," despite having quite a dramatic history. It was played, but treated well by Chopin's family and was not used for concert performances, also because of a failed renovation attempt.

It had most of its wire strings changed for modern ones during renovation in the late 1950s that destroyed its tone and put strain on the whole structure.