I have finally got round to putting some pictures up on my site of Aldbury Morris Men. Some interesting concertina snaps as on a good day Aldbury have and English Ensemble (treble, tenor and bass) backed up by an anglo. Most of the Englishes (with the exception of mine) were previously owned by the Fayre Four Sisters hence the gold paint on some.

Go here and then click on pictures

WooHoo! Lester! That looks like a squeezing good time! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Don't know why I posted this in Buy and Sell. As a matter of fact I've only just worked out how the system decides which forum to post in, so i will try harder from now on.

Aren't they gold plated on the metal, and gold leafed on the the wood & leather ? It seems that the "ebony" finish was considered too drab for the Fayre Four to use on stage, Alf Edwards had a similar "gold" finished instrument, also for stage use.

Mind you, I did once have a "Pearly King's" aeola Maccann duet, which did have bellows that were painted gold, pearl buttons stitched onto the handstraps too !

I was just going to make you an offer !

Where I found the caption "Aldbury doing what they do best " under a photo with not a pint in sight!

...What sort of Morris side is that??!!

Considering the number of non-concertina instruments in these pictures, I decided it's time to trot out this quote one more time:
.............[from Francis J. O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), p. 109]
...............

Well mine was made in Church Point, Louisiana. (Thanks John !)

(Does that make it OK ?)

Edited to add Smilies.

I can easily move this thread...is General the best place, Lester?

Yes please, will try harder in future.

Ta

A very good Morris side, we don't all need alcohol to enjoy ourselves you know!!! Excuse rant but have been forced to teetotal for the last 6 months and for the foreseeable future due to medication for my diabetes, hypertension, asthma etc etc.

The one good thing about it is I am nearly always the best musician come the end of a 4 hour session down the pub, even if I am th only one who cares by then

They genuinely are gold painted. The tenor I can be seen playing and the treble Terry mostly plays have both had the paint removed when they were repaired. The bass has serial number 29869 which according to the Wheatstone ledger is a

Ledger Entry

If you were to attend many English Morris Ales you would consider my photos as having a very high concertina quota as their use is very low up against the melodeon especially English Concertinas.

Plus as any melodeon spotter will have noticed the melodeons on show with one exception are Italian not German

Since the EU, you expect an American to be able to tell the difference? (Notice me hiding behind dark glasses.)

Topic moved to General Discussion per Lester's request.

That's interesting ! Richard Carlin, who interviewed the sisters in the early '70's, was told that their black instruments were considered too drab-looking by a promoter, so it looks like a quick (& cheap) "gilding" job was done, using gold paint, so as not to lose the work. I think it had been assumed that these "gold-plated" aeolas had been made specially for them.



I can understand why you have had it removed (I did the same with the bellows of the "pearly king" duet that I had - I've still got the "pearly" handstraps though), but, in a way, it is a pity to change such an historic set of instruments.



Yes, the word is indeed "bright", implying that the ends were brightly finished (for stage use ?) when it was made, S.A. is for single-action (it plays only on the press ?), 9 1/8" is the size of the ends.