Thanks very much for your replies everyone!
Brian I did read your recommendations and I thank you very much!
I'm astonished that you've been looking for "The Blue Skirt Waltz" for 25 years! I'd be very happy to send that copy of the Blue Skirt Waltz to you, if you'd like to have it... just drop me an email.
I live in southwest Michigan as well, psychopepper, up near Grand Rapids. I'm a house musician for a terrific Irish pub in Conklin... a legendary little pub that hosts some of the finest names in traditional Irish music from both the United States and abroad. I've been very pleased to meet a lot of fine artists over the years (Tommy Makem, Paddy Reilly, and Liam Tiernan are just a few of the gents that come through our door on a regular basis).
We have traditional seisiun every Wednesday, and we typically have between 20 and 35 musicans (some of whom drive hours to get there). We have quite a few accordion/concertina players and there are two of us who play the English system... the English system works beautifully for most of the seisiun music that we play, and we have a considerable repetoire.
I do plan to purchase a vintage Anglo in the near future, I'm in the market for one... I'd like to become proficient with that system because I'm also an Irish dancer (ceili and set), and the Anglo is really preferred over the English for dance music.
Anyway, back to the Chemnitzer:
I was privileged this week to have a couple of emails from a wonderful gentleman, Mr. Ken Yagelski, "The Polish Fireball" (concertinamusic.com).
Ken was kind enough to come over and take a peek at my photographs and provide me with the following information about this beautiful instrument (thank you, Ken!). I am sharing the information here, with his kind permission.
"Henry Silberhorn was in the chemnitzer concertina business for many
years. He started when he emigrated from Bavaria in 1885 by arranging
music, teaching students and importing instruments from Germany. These
imported concertinas were manufactured by Fredrich Lange, Carl Uhlig's
son-in-law.
"Later, around 1902, Otto Schlicht and his associates began to
manufacture chemnitzers for a retailer named Georgi & Vitak, sold under
the name Pearl Queen. In 1917, Schlicht also began making instruments
for retailer Rudy Patek, sold under the Patek brand name. These
instruments were almost identical except for the name badge.
"When world war activity made importing from Germany difficult,
Silberhorn turned to manufacturers located in the United States to
provide concertinas. He contracted with Otto Schlicht and other
companies to manufacture chemnitzers for him.
"Your concertina is identical to instruments Schlicht made for Pearl
Queen and Patek. Check out this link from our web site...
http://www.concertin...tekcatalog8.jpg"This image is from a Patek catalog dated 1930. Your instrument was
likely made by Otto Schlicht and his associates very close to the same
date. Earlier models were rarely ornamented with abalone or any other
material.
"A plain wood finish was most common. Some had silver wire and small "pearl"
pieces inlaid, but the abalone finish was later (1930 - 1940) and only for
the better instruments.
"Later models (post World War II) were covered with plastic laminate,
first plain and later emblazoned with rhinestones and fancy engraving."
So the mystery of this beautiful instrument has been solved, and I thank Ken and Jim and all of you good folks here at Concertina.net for your kind assistance!
Rose
Edited by Rose, 07 October 2004 - 09:23 AM.
