Topic: Miniature harpschord, dulcitone and ship's piano samples
I feel as though I'm sinning by linking to even an inexpensive, labor of love, sample library, but many people here seem to be interested in older instruments: On KVR, I ran across this link to a site created by someone who sampled a miniature harpsichord, a Dulcitone, and a ship's piano (a portable, but not a toy, upright piano).
The miniature harpsichord isn't all that old, but it sounds old, and has a timbre all its own. Not sure how to describe the Dulcitone. A bell-like, whacked-out xylophone with a thump? My favorite is the ship's piano, which is from the late 19th century. Its sound is fairly complex, though the bass of course suffers from the small cabinet. Much richer than I expected, though no claim is made of perfect turning.
(About the site: Some of the demo's have an additional sound layered in--a synth or strings. Wish he hadn't done that, but it does suggest how these sounds might be used in a modern "alternative" song or John Cage type of thing. Clicking on one of the jpegs takes you to a page of additional photos of the instruments.)
The drums at the bottom of the page sound good, too.
http://www.virb.com/dulcitone1884