Scot Huntington on January 3rd, 2021:
The facade pipes of the 1834 Hook would have been pipe metal, and likely collapsing within 30-50 years of their manufacture. The extant gilded zinc facade pipes are extremely old, at least as old as the 1886 Steere installation, and very likely older. Obviously a high-quality organ to begin with, it was high enough quality to be recycled by Steere & Turner. A G-compass organ originally, it was rebuilt at some point, either for this installation or its earlier home in Springfield, as a C-compass instrument. Whether the recessed keydesk with vertical stop jambs was retained through its various moves or modernized with terraced jambs is not mentioned in the contract for this organ, nor is there mention of combination pedals being added, or the type of swell expression control. Its old-fashioned f-compass Great and Swell stops were retained. The contract price was not mentioned, which would have given an indication of the scope of the work for the installation in Cooperstown.

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Database Manager on May 6th, 2015:
Altered and relocated existing organ. Identified by Scot Huntington, based on personal knowledge of the organ. <br> -- It is unclear from the Steere & Turner ledger specification whether they were rebuilding an existing organ or providing new an instrument in this 1867 building. The unusual 5-sectional case is Gothic in its embellishments. Circumstantial evidence discovered by historians Martin Walsh and Barbara Owen suggests this could very possibly be E.& G.G. Hook No.14, 1834, (an organ with an identical number of registers), originally built for St. John's Episcopal, Providence, Rhode Island, sold in 1851 to Christ Church, Springfield, Massachusetts, moved by Steere & Turner to their new building in 1876, and taken in trade when they replaced it with No. 205 in 1885. <br>If this is the case, then Steere & Turner definitely provided No. 224 to St. Mary's in 1886 and was not rebuilding an existing instrument. The Steere specification states the façade pipes were "pure tin", but the gilding of the extant zinc façade pipes is their only surface treatment, they are very old and were clearly made for this façade and were originally speaking pipes. The instrument was replaced in 1948 by a modest M.P. Moeller unit organ, Op. 7836, placed behind the existing historic case and mute façade, slightly reduced in depth.