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Hi, you have a beautiful looking english concertina there. It is worth a good bit of money especially with the written history that goes along with it. There are folks on this site who would know just how much. All I could think of while looking at those pictures is that I don't think that you play concertina or are maybe just learning and that I hope you won't be selling it. It is nice to keep things like that in the family and hopefully making music. On the other hand if you have no desire to play or keep it, it is best to get it into the hands of folks who will play it. I am a little guilty of that myself when I look around at some of the instruments in my closet etc. I guess I wasn't much help but good luck! Mike

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Hiya,

No I don't play it, I don't even know if it's still in tune! :D

I would like it to go to someone who would play it and look after it, it's no good it just sitting in it's box is it?

I know if I kept it and passed it on to my kids eventually it would get wrecked and probably thrown away in the end, and I'd hate to think of it in a land fill.

My Grandad was very musical, he played the trombone and I still have his honer (sp) chromatica harmonica.

As you can see from the receipts it seemed to cost a lot of money back in 1923, £35 for the instument (as far as I can tell) and £18.10s for valves (whatever they are lol).

 

I've been looking on ebay to see what they sell for but won't dare list it in case I either under or over valuate it.

 

Marg

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I've been looking on ebay to see what they sell for but won't dare list it in case I either under or over valuate it.

 

 

 

Marg - a very lovely box - a friend has an Edeophone and I'm extrememly envious - it has a gorgeous tone.

Chris Algar has one listed at the moment.

 

here on ebay

 

You could look at the price that reaches, factor out the cost of a retune on your box (several hundred quid if it needs bringing to concert pitch and possibly another lump of money for refurbishing - more if the bellows need work - though the whole thing looks in good condition).

Then add an unknown amount on the plus side for having the history with it.

 

.... and I'm sure someone here would be interested in the serial number and details of the receipt which could help fill in the history of Lachenals

Edited by spindizzy
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Last summer at Sidmouth Chris was selling Edeophones for about 1600 pounds. These were, however, fully renovated instruments. The Concertina FAQ (link in the sig below) has a list of good repairers, which might help. They should be able to value it as well as repair it.

 

The Edeophone is a particularly fine variety of English concertina. There are those (Colin Dipper among them) who consider them superior in construction even to the Wheatstone Aeola. With such a potentially fine instrument, please seriously consider learning to play - think how pleased your grandfather would have been, and the ability to play an instrument is a pleasure for life.

 

Chris

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Thanks everyone :D

 

You've given me some good info!!

 

Is there anyway I could tell if it's in tune or whatever (you can see I don't have a clue).

There's no point in me hanging on to it but I no nothing about it and don't want to end up virtually giving it away.

I would love it to be played again and looked after.

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Do you have friend who plays fiddle or guitar? If you can get hold of a chromatic tuner (such as used for guitar tuning) and play any note, it will tell approximately how far off tune the instrument is. It won't be exact because these tuners are notoriously inaccurate. It will be within a few cents though. It will give you a good idea of whether it is in an old tuning or not. Unless there is rust on the reeds, it should be roughly in tune with itself.

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These charts here (from the Concertina FAQ) will show you what the notes should be. That will help you and your putative friend with the guitar/piano/chromatic tuner.

 

Hull's not that bad - it's got the Humber Bridge, and Whitby Folk Festival's not far away. What more could you ask for?

 

I say again - don't sell it, learn it. Just think of the sweet revenge you can take for all the noise your kids make!

 

Chris

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Where are you located?

Maybe we can find you someone knowledgeable in your "neighborhood".

I'm nowhere near civilisation, I live in Hull LOL

Marg,

 

You might be surprised, there used to be quite a few concertina players in Hull, maybe there still are ...

 

 

As you can see from the receipts it seemed to cost a lot of money back in 1923, £35 for the instument (as far as I can tell) and £18.10s for valves (whatever they are lol).

I'm afraid I can't make out much of the letter from Lachenal's, so I'm not sure what the full £35 was for, but the price of the "48 Edeophone Bowing Valves" was the £18 ,, 10s on the receipt. This fits in with the prices of £17, around 1910, and £19 ,, 18s ,, 6d, about 1930, on a couple of Lachenal catalogues that I have.

 

The "Bowing Valves" were an optional extra, and their levers seem to have been since removed from the instrument, but that is not unusual.

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Thanks everyone! I'm going to take some better photos (we have a better camera since those pics were taken) if I shoot a short video were you can hear it would you be able to tell if it was in tune? (Bearing in mind I can't play it and I can play any other instument either).

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A bigger image of the receipts

Marg,

 

That's much better. Now I can make out the serial number on the receipt (#58887), and decipher the text of the letter. As far as I can make out it reads :

 

Messrs. A. & E. Perkins,

 

Dear Sirs,

 

We thank you for your favours with P.O. O value £35. The 2 Insts. as here receipted, Statement and Invoices enclosed, have been forwarded today per Parcel Post Registered -

 

We trust same will reach you safely and be to your entire satisfaction.

 

We are posting too the Tutor as requested for which there will be no charge.

 

Yours truly,

 

Lachenal & Co.

 

So there were two instruments bought, with a Postal Order for £35, one the Edeophone for Mr. A. Perkins, for which you have the receipt, and another for E. Perkins.

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I have the receipt for the other instrument too.

 

I've just realised I have my great uncles if the 58887 is A.Perkins! My Grandad was Ernest Perkins his brother was Albert.

Marg,

 

OK, now this is really starting to make sense. The two Edeophones cost £18 ,, 10s + £21 ,, 10s = £40, so they must have paid a deposit of £5 on them and the £35 Postal Order was the balance due (hence it mentions a Statement in the letter).

 

Your grandad's, #58885, was a tenor-treble, a slightly larger instrument with an extra row of buttons at the bottom of the keyboard, extending the range downwards, which is why it cost more.

 

For comparison, that £40 in 1923 would represent £ 5,665.25 in the year 2000.

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Blimey!

My Mum's family wasn't well off at all and I don't even know if my Grandad was married then (my Mum was born in 1930 and had 3 older siblings), he would have been about 25 years old.

I think the average wage was about £1.10s back then so I don't know how they afforded that.

I don't know what his job was then but he was a train driver when he died.

 

Sorry I'm babbling you don't need to know all this stuff LOL

 

Anyway what do you reckon I sell it for todays equivalent??? Hehehehehe j/k

 

 

Thanks again for all your help!

 

What I'm deffo going to do is take it to the sea fever festival in here in Hull in sept to see if it's a least in tune (assuming I can find a concertina player there!

 

Marg :P

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Blimey!

My Mum's family wasn't well off at all and I don't even know if my Grandad was married then (my Mum was born in 1930 and had 3 older siblings), he would have been about 25 years old.

I think the average wage was about £1.10s back then so I don't know how they afforded that.

I don't know what his job was then but he was a train driver when he died.

Marg,

 

Well Lachenal's prices (c.1910) started at only £2 ,, 2s, so they could have bought much cheaper concertinas, but they chose to buy two top-of-the-range professional-quality instruments, so I reckon they were planning on doing some serious playing.

 

 

Anyway what do you reckon I sell it for todays equivalent??? Hehehehehe j/k

That brings up an interesting issue. Concertina players sometimes complain how expensive instuments are today, yet your 1923 Edeophone cost the equivalent of £2,620.18 in 2000, and we have been told that the market price now is only £1,600. :huh:

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