QUOTE (richard @ Mar 31 2008, 04:59 PM)

Hello
I thought this photo would be of interest. It is a postcard I found at a junk shop in San Francisco.
Richard
Nice looking melodeon.......extra buttons above the two normal rows, can't see any bass buttons.
Reminds me of a story. You should know a) I also play melodeon and

I teach.
A few years ago I was asked to teach an adult evening class at the local college.....taking an 'Introduction to the Internet' class to adults.
They were a mixed bunch.....one lady joined so that she could do the Daily Telegraph crossword on-line. One lady ran a local charity shop and wanted to be able to price items and sell things on E-Bay. Then an elderly lady hobbled in.....about 85 years old. I let her settle for a while, then sat beside hear and asked her what she hoped to get out of the class.
"I want to find out more about the English Button Melodeon" was her reply.
When I got up off the floor, I answered, "Well you certainly have come to the right place."
Turned out that she had her fathers.....which apparently he 'got' from a WW1 German soldier. She didn't really explain how he'd 'got' it but was convinced that it was worth something.
She brought it in the next week and it was very hard trying to explain to her that it really was a hopeless case.
I was fairly sure that it had been used as an extra pump for a gas mask.
Phil