ABBA's piano up for auction in London

The piano that was featured on many of Swedish pop group ABBA's greatest hits will be put up for sale next month in London, auctioneers Sothey's said.

The piano is estimated to sell between £600,000 and £800,000 ($925,000 and $1.24m; €820,000 and €1.1m) when it goes under the hammer on 29 September, the auction house said.

"The opening piano glissando from Dancing Queen is one of the most distinctive sounds of the 1970s and we are delighted to offer the actual instrument used by the legendary ABBA in their major recordings," Philip W Errington, Sotherby's expert said.

"The piano itself is an instrument of real importance and with the added ABBA provenance we expect it to have worldwide appeal."

The piano was built by Swedish musical instrument designer Georg Bolin for the US jazz pianist Bill Evans.

It was bought by Stockholm's Metronome Studios in 1967 and appeared on nearly all of ABBA's recordings from 1973 and 1977, including Waterloo, SOS, Knowing Me, Knowing You, and Mamma Mia.

ABBA's pianist Benny Andersson described the piano as: "One of a kind and a great source of inspiration while working in the recording studio during the ABBA sessions."

The piano, described by New York Times in 1964 as a "space-age piano" is being sold by Atlantis Grammofon, the former Metronome Studios.

The four member pop group comprising Andersson, Bjoern Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faeltskog split up in 1983. They have never performed as a group since.