Fascinating story....
The Chelsea area in NYC was a big Irish settlement in the mid to late 1800s. I know, because my ancestors lived a block away from where they found that harp (West 25th street, between 8th and 9th avenue).
I wonder if the harp was a relic of those times and was brought over during the famine migration that filled up the area, and who threw it out (and what other treasures of that time may have ended up in a dumpster).
Lq
A little bit of history.