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About a decade ago I purchased a 52-button Chemnitzer Concertina on eBay. I'm a bandoneon fan, and wanted to try to learn how to play. I thought i was coming close with this... However, it doesn't have the soulful sound I was after...and even with a few months of dedication, I've struck out coming to understand even basics on my own. Even with a fingering chart I can't get a handle on playing more than melodies I figure out by ear.

 

Photos attached show the button layout and the "Italian Accordion Mfg. Co" mark from Chicago Illinois...an previous owner for some reason etched "Made In Germany" above the company mark. It's not 100% airtight, and is missing one button.

 

Since it's not being used I wonder: Is this re-sellable, and if so, for what price range? Hoping to pass it along to someone who would do more than collect dust with it.

 

Thanks for any input or guidance in advance,

Molly

 

 

 

 

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This looks more like a bandoneon than a Chemnitzer to me - too many rows for a Chemnitzer. For comparison, here's a Chemnitzer currently on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pre-War-Pearl-Queen-Concertina-Iridescent-Gold-Abalone-MMH-28-24-/152588356128 Best bet for selling may be to put it back on eBay and see what happens.

 

It looks German made to me. Italian Accordion Mfg. Co was probably the importer or reseller.

 

About a decade ago I purchased a 52-button Chemnitzer Concertina on eBay. I'm a bandoneon fan, and wanted to try to learn how to play. I thought i was coming close with this... However, it doesn't have the soulful sound I was after...and even with a few months of dedication, I've struck out coming to understand even basics on my own. Even with a fingering chart I can't get a handle on playing more than melodies I figure out by ear.

 

Photos attached show the button layout and the "Italian Accordion Mfg. Co" mark from Chicago Illinois...an previous owner for some reason etched "Made In Germany" above the company mark. It's not 100% airtight, and is missing one button.

 

Since it's not being used I wonder: Is this re-sellable, and if so, for what price range? Hoping to pass it along to someone who would do more than collect dust with it.

 

Thanks for any input or guidance in advance,

Molly

Edited by Daniel Hersh
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I agree. Yours looks very much like my German Bandoneon (a small one with single-chorus reeds), especially as to the button layout.

 

And it's the button layout that decides whether a "Large German Konzertina" is a Chemnitzer, a Carlsfelder or a Bandoneon. Shape, size and construction of the box are much the same.

 

Cheers,

John

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Molly,

 

The badge with the text "ArnoArnold - MARCA REGISTRADA" is in Spanish. This would hint that the instrument - being a Bandoneon - has at some time passed through Argentina.

"Arnold" is the big name in early Bandoneons, and Arnold was a German manufacturer. But his full name was Alfred Arnold (often abbreviated to AA in logos), not Arno.

 

I would suggest that the Spanish-language badge was applied by some Argentinian importer, who reckoned that the instruments would sell better with a name that recalled that of the most highly regarded of Bandoneon manufactutrers.

 

The incised "Made in Germany" looks to me like someone's attempt to advertise the true provenance if the instrument, whether for historical or commercial purposes.

 

This is all detective work based on circumstantial evidence, but it could be that some dealer in Argentina imported German Bandoneons (not necessarily A. Arnolds) and rebadged them with the suggestive trade mark "ArnoArnold"; that the Italian Accordion Mfg. Company imported the rebadged instruments from Argentina to the U.S.A. and re-rebadged them with their trade mark; and that someone, some time, scratched "Made in Germany" on this particular instrument, for the reasons mentioned above. Whether or not the "Made in Germany" claim ist true, would be a matter for further investigaton.

 

If only your instrument could tell its story ...

 

Cheers,

John

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Arno Arnold (who I believe was a nephew of Alfred Arnold) made bandoneons in Germany after World War II. They're not considered to be as good as the earlier Alfred Arnold instruments. The original Arnold make was ELA, for Ernst Louis Arnold, who I believe was Alfred's father and Arno's grandfather.

 

Molly,

 

The badge with the text "ArnoArnold - MARCA REGISTRADA" is in Spanish. This would hint that the instrument - being a Bandoneon - has at some time passed through Argentina.

"Arnold" is the big name in early Bandoneons, and Arnold was a German manufacturer. But his full name was Alfred Arnold (often abbreviated to AA in logos), not Arno.

 

I would suggest that the Spanish-language badge was applied by some Argentinian importer, who reckoned that the instruments would sell better with a name that recalled that of the most highly regarded of Bandoneon manufactutrers.

 

The incised "Made in Germany" looks to me like someone's attempt to advertise the true provenance if the instrument, whether for historical or commercial purposes.

 

This is all detective work based on circumstantial evidence, but it could be that some dealer in Argentina imported German Bandoneons (not necessarily A. Arnolds) and rebadged them with the suggestive trade mark "ArnoArnold"; that the Italian Accordion Mfg. Company imported the rebadged instruments from Argentina to the U.S.A. and re-rebadged them with their trade mark; and that someone, some time, scratched "Made in Germany" on this particular instrument, for the reasons mentioned above. Whether or not the "Made in Germany" claim ist true, would be a matter for further investigaton.

 

If only your instrument could tell its story ...

 

Cheers,

John

Edited by Daniel Hersh
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By the way, can anyone point me to the finger chart for this one? I can't seem to locate it.

 

Molly--

 

See the various charts linked from http://www.bandoneonist.ch/band/band_node6.html. With luck one of them will match your instrument.

 

Edited to add: if you look at http://www.bandoneonist.ch/pdf/keyb/AA_130.pdf and ignore the black buttons, that may be it (or close to it).

Edited by Daniel Hersh
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