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LMarsh

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  1. Hi all,

    I recently inherited my late grandfathers prize heirloom... a miniature Lachenal. I don’t play and I’m trying to find out more about it. I will take a look at the artical posted above to see if there are any clues in there, but any other input from collectors such as yourselves would be greatly received.

    The story goes that my distant relative (great great great grandfather) who’s surname was Ghatti (Italian) was a musician in London but originally from Venice. Supposedly he knew Louis Lachenal and helped him come up with the innovative idea of changing the keys from the traditional accordion style, which I assume means same direction vs perpendicular. As a thank you, he was gifted this concertina. It’s 3 inches end to end and 2 inches each end with 10 keys. It’s engraved on the side, which Mr Ghatti had done later himself ‘Presented to Gatto’ (his stage name), ‘By Lashnell’ (because I guess he was not a great speller!). Supposedly my ancestor used to play this as part of his act sat in between his two sons who played huge accordions. 

    Now I don’t know if this story is true or fabricated but I’ve been told it since I was a child and always found it fascinating, hence why I got gifted it I guess! I would mainly like to know when these were first made by Lachenal to get a rough idea of its age and how many were produced. Is mine typical? I’ve yet to find others that are this small. It still works but I’m looking to get it restored, is this easy and would it affect the value? Not that I’m sure it’s even valuable to be honest. Obviously it is to my family. 

    Any info would be greatly received!

    Lindsey

     

     

     

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