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Old Anglo


Alan Day

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I have just purchased at auction an old CG Anglo Twenty button.It has a registration No in the low "2000 (A quick look lunchtime from memory 2024)I will confirm the exact number if there is some interest.It appears to be either a Wheatstone or Jones with riveted arm action. Metal ended with dreadfull fretting but looks original.Bone buttons.It has six fold bellows which are airtight,green papers with no manufacturers name on the Right hand end, but has initials and a date about 1923 of a previous owner and another 1961.It has been retuned to current pitch and has fairly broad steel reads in a brass base.

Any ideas as to the manufacturer and date?

Al

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Alan,

 

With very basic fretwork, fairly broad steel reeds, and a rivetted action, Jones sounds a likely candidate. Wheatstone didn't sell any anglos with rivetted actions until about the 23000's serial numbers.

 

Are the pillars, to which the levers are rivetted, bell-shaped ?

 

A photo could be a big help.

 

Cheers,

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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Thanks for your quick reply Stephen,I must admit when I first looked at it ,at auction, I thought it was a Jones but looking up the Wheatstone serial numbers it was the only number sequence which looked anything like the number of this one.Also the reeds are stamped with the note letter which Wheatstone did.I will take it apart and have a look at it later and report back.If there is sufficient interest I will take some photos inside and out for you to look at. Also when I take the other end off some more information may come to light.

Thanks again

Al

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looking up the Wheatstone serial numbers it was the only number sequence which looked anything like the number of this one.

Unfortunately the relevant ledger is missing, but Wheatstone's would have used the number 2024 around 1849 or '50, which is at least a year before the first Anglo-German concertina was made. On the other hand it sounds a very likely number for a Jones.

 

Also the reeds are stamped with the note letter which Wheatstone did.

As did every other maker I can think of.

 

I will take it apart and have a look at it later and report back.If there is sufficient interest I will take some photos inside and out for you to look at.

 

It is probably the only way to try to establish who made it (though I own some myself that I can't yet identify the maker of !).

 

Cheers,

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Hallo Stephen

Well I am now going to confirm what my wife has been telling me for years,that I am probably the worlds most unobservant person,coupled with a bad memory it adds up to why so many bits of information were missing or wrong from the above post.

In my defence I was more interested in taking the concertina apart to see how it was put together, in about fifteen minutes snatched from my lunch break, than take in minor points like ,it is red not green,it has eight fold bellows.The serial number is 1085 (Only 39 out).

On taking it apart this evening I was suprised that the bottom triangle of the metal end came away as a seperate piece.The buttons go through a wooden plate behind the metal ends and you are right the upright hinge post is rounded at the top and looks far too heavy for what it is designed to do.

From your hints it sounds like a Jones and although my second concertina was a Jones over thirty years ago,I have not taken one apart since.

Your confirmation however would be appreciated.Photos to follow.

I do intend to sell it on to hopefully a member on this site(at a reasonable price) provided I do not see it on Ebay soon afterwards.

Al

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I am probably the worlds most unobservant person

You and me both !

 

I failed to spot (in your original post) that it has metal ends, which were a later development, probably in the 1870's, so it seems to have a very low serial number for such a feature.

 

it is red not green,it has eight fold bellows.The serial number is 1085 (Only 39 out).

I think the only one that I have with 8-fold bellows is a Nickolds from about 1860. (Shouldn't that be 939 ?)

 

On taking it apart this evening I was suprised that the bottom triangle of the metal end came away as a seperate piece.

Now that sounds very strange ...

 

Cheers,

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  • 2 weeks later...

Al,

 

What I think you have there is a Jones that started life with solid wood ends (typical for Jones), which may have cracked and broken up (laminated wood was normally used, by most makers, for higher grades of concertina, becuse it was more stable and less likely to crack). The present metal ends appear to be amateur replacements, as they are very poorly fretcut, and the two-piece construction is unique in my experience.

 

Cheers,

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