Wheatstone Date

[fiskardo]

Good afternoon forum,

 

I am new to the forum and would like to consult the experts about my Wheatstone 48 key treble.

 

I have owned this instrument for 30 years but, having moved back to Ireland a few years ago, it is no longer being played as I am now (perhaps ironically) in the land of the Anglo! I would therefore like to sell it and, with this in mind I got it out and decided to take a really close look at it.

 

One of the puzzling things about this instrument is that I have never been able to find a serial number on it. However, having spent last evening investigating further I think I have found one- the reason I dismissed this number before is that I was expecting at least four or five digits . This has two!

 

The serial number is 64. This number does not appear in the Wheatstone Ledgers (nearest is 62). Is this likely?

 

I have just noticed the tiny file size permitted for attachments, having taken some trouble to photograph the instrument with a decent camera. I'll now have to somehow reduce the file sizes of the images before posting.

 

For now: Wheatstone, Conduit street address, 48 metal buttons, ?rosewood ends, 5 fold bellows in very good condition, It appears to have steel reeds mounted on brass. A couple of sticking buttons and one muffled reed. Loud, bright tone. Probably original hexagonal case with keys.

 

Any thoughts?

[Geoff Wooff]

With some models you can find the serial number stamped into the frames in the joint between the frames of the fretted end and the Pallet board therefore you'd need to lift off the fretted end to expose the action and look at the frame wood just inside of the verneer. Sometimes the number is stamped on the Action board (the wooden bit that has the buttons , springs and lever pivots fixed to it).... but having said that if you have a "Conduit street" period instrument then the number might just be on a paper label in the left hand end, which originally would have been glued to either the inside face of the fretwork or to a baffle of wood or leather.... these baffles sometimes get removed with the idea to make the instrument louder.

 

 

The number 64 that you found on the inside is normally a Job number which accompanies all the wooden parts whilst in process of making the instrument and is not the serial number.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Geoff Wooff

[fiskardo]

Hi Geoff,

 

Many thanks for your very helpful reply. I will investigate further.

[Stephen Chambers]

Having looked at the photos in your other two threads, I see that what you have appears to be a "riveted-reed" Wheatstone from the second half of the 19th century, but the 64 is only the last two digits of a 5-digit serial number, which Wheatstone's used as a batch number (during manufacturing) in the Edward Chidley senior years (1865-1899) when it was made. Unfortunately the full serial number is only normally to be found in the oval on the left-hand side and is generally "lost" if that is missing. (Unless somebody thought to write it down elsewhere.)

Edited October 17, 2014 by Stephen Chambers

[fiskardo]

Thanks very much for this. I will now be wondering, whenI look up all the ser no's ending in 64 in the Ledgers. I always thought that it played very well and was plenty loud enough to compete with the racket in a crowded pub. In terms of quality, where would it sit in the general canon of concertinas?

[Stephen Chambers]

I will now be wondering, whenI look up all the ser no's ending in 64 in the Ledgers.

 

I have managed to identify the full serial numbers of them that way sometimes, but only if there is something distinctive or unusual about the instrument.

 

I always thought that it played very well and was plenty loud enough to compete with the racket in a crowded pub. In terms of quality, where would it sit in the general canon of concertinas?

 

They're very nice instruments, but I wouldn't consider them very loud - for playing in a crowded pub you can't beat the higher-end English concertinas from the first 40 years of the 20th century, and they're the most sought-after ones.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Stephen Chambers

[fiskardo]

Having looked in the ledgers, and discarded the aeolas, 56 keyed instruments and obvious "custom" models, I'm still left with about ten possibilities so I've given up! With reference to what Geoff said re baffles, I did not know that the instrument had ever had any but having looked closely, there are patches of glue with bits of light coloured ?pine on the underside of the external, fretted, ends.

 

There are many references in the ledgers to "No 2, No 4, No 5" etc. What do these annotations mean?