Robert Gaskins
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Posts posted by Robert Gaskins
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A really excellent answer is available to this question (and to many others), a major historical study available in full text on the web, free.
Ladies in the Wheatstone Ledgers:
the Gendered Concertina in Victorian England, 1835–1870
by Allan W. Atlas
Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, vol 39 (2006)
iv + 235 pages
Full text of the original publication is on the web at Atlas, Ladies in the Wheatstone Ledgers
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For Scotland, you might want to look at Stuart Eydmann's PhD thesis,
The Life and Times of the Concertina:
the adoption and usage of a novel musical instrument with particular reference to Scotland
http://www.concertina.com/eydmann/life-and-times
This much-anticipated study is the first book-length account of the history and development of the concertina, in the context of the people who played it and their music. It is based on field work as well as historical research, and deals with the concertina in traditional music, art music, sacred music, band music, the music hall, and many forms of popular music—reflecting the richness, contradictions, and complexities of music and society over the more than 150 years since the invention of the concertina as the high-tech sensation of its day. Twelve chapters, bibliography of more than 400 items, over 90 figures and musical examples, 365 pages. Text of thesis for the Ph.D. degree, Open University, 1995. Supervisors: Dr Peter Cooke and Dr Richard Middleton.
The entire text with illustrations and examples is free on the web at the link above.
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Where do I get the right leather for the buffles?
From Robert Gaskins, "Baffles for Maccann Duet Concertinas":
The first step is to acquire the proper leather. The range of leathers with different properties is astonishingly wide, but not many of them are useful for concertina baffles. All the leather varieties made for clothing or for upholstery are too soft--they drape easily, and they stretch, and both of these properties are fatal for baffles. Leathers which are sturdier are often thicker and thus not as useful in the constricted space available in a concertina end, or else so rigid and stiff that they might resonate. What is needed is leather that is thin, strong, fairly stiff but limp (not rigid), dimensionally-stable, and air-tight.
Such leather is surprisingly difficult to find. I tried out samples of every plausible leather from Tandy Leather Company (now selling online exclusively) without finding a suitable choice, and had similar results from other online sources, including suppliers of leather for organ repair. I bought leathers with mixed success from specialist stores in London. Finally I found the ideal supplier: J. Hewit & Sons Ltd. of Edinburgh. These folks create wonderful leather, mostly for bookbinders but also for other purposes as various as bagpipes, and are traditional suppliers to concertina makers (the business goes back to at least 1806). Hewit has an comprehensive website with an admirable online store, making prompt and accurate deliveries to any part of the world. Full details are below under Suppliers.
The best leather for baffles is goatskin, which has all the desired properties; this was traditionally referred to as "morocco" leather, which is goatskin treated to emphasize its natural grain (so-called "French Morocco" is a sheepskin imitation, to be avoided.) Hewit supplies "Chieftain Goat", which is traditional East Indian goatskin, re-tanned in Edinburgh, processed to a ravishing grain pattern, and colored with vegetable dyes to traditional colors. For light colors, they supply a very similar goatskin which is "alum tawed" (rather than tanned) to produce an etherial creamy white leather.
After I finally found and bought some of this distinctive leather, I handed a small scrap of it to Steve Dickinson of C. Wheatstone & Co., who without any prompting immediately identified Hewit by name and went on to name the specific type of goatskin and even the specific color; it is the same leather that he sometimes uses for bellows. I should have known earlier to look for bookbinder's morocco leather if I had studied my concertina history more closely:
"The bellows on these very first Wheatstone concertinas [to 1842] were of the finest glazed green morocco leather, of a similar quality to that used by bookbinders. The Wheatstone workshop ledgers show regular purchases of morocco leather and payment of bookbinders' bills for the production of these fine bellows. Indeed, similar techniques of neatly skiving, lapping, and folding the leather were used as in fine bindery practice, producing the neat joins and thin bellows folds found on all concertinas up to the end of 1842." Neil Wayne, "The Wheatstone English Concertina," The Galpin Society Journal 44 (1991): 117-49.
Buying goatskin is not like buying an industrial product--this is a natural material, with lots of variations in the leather and in the processing and finishing. Rather than some neat rectangle, one buys a whole skin, in the shape of an animal with four legs and so forth, and every skin varies in size; pricing is by actual area, so each skin also varies a little in price, as it is bigger or smaller. The skins are roughly half a square meter to two-thirds of a square meter each, so the unit of sale is about half a square meter. Any skin in this size range should cut up into at least four baffles for a very large concertina (say, a 72-key AEola), or into at least nine baffles for a small concertina (say, a 46-key hexagon), so even the smallest skin should make two to four sets of baffles. Skins are priced by the square meter, about GBP 100 per square meter in standard grade II; since a typical skin is a bit over half a square meter, the price of a typical skin is around GBP 55 (USD 80, EUR 90).
J. Hewit & Sons Ltd.
Edinburgh
Tanners and Leather Dressers
and Suppliers for all Craft Bookbinding requirements
(By appt to HM the Queen, manufacturers of leather)
Information on J. Hewit & Sons, sellers of leather for concertina baffles
P.S. David Barnert (above) referred to this material at the old Maccann Duet website; that old site is soon to be removed from the web, and it has not been updated in over a year. All of its content (plus several times more in new material) has been moved to the Concertina Library website.
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Another negative review of the Stagi Hayden Duet is at
www.concertina.com/gaskins/which-duet
"This article compares two concertinas: a Stagi Hayden Duet concertina (c. 2003), and a Lachenal Maccann Duet concertina (c. 1900). Each instrument has 46 keys, and each cost £500 ($800) ready to play ... ."
Bob Tedrow http://hmi.homewood.net/hayden/ sure looks like the best source for a Hayden any time soon, as Ken suggests.
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I recently got a keyboard diagram for a "49-key Maccann" being sold by Button Box. I'm not sure that it's the same instrument as Mike bought, but it sounds like the same instrument, so I'll post the diagram here.
This instrument is quite a bit different from a standard Maccann Duet 46-key layout.
(1) It has an extra Bb key on the left side (top of column six).
(2) It has an extra F key on the left side (placed where an air-valve would be).
(3) It has an extra F key on the right side (bottom of column three).
That accounts for the extra three keys. In addition, it has a number of perturbations which are not part of any standard Maccann layout:
(4) On the left, three keys for A, B, and Eb have been interchanged (A changed to B, B changed to Eb, and Eb changed to A).
(5) On the left, the low F key has been changed to low D (and the F moved to an extra key, see (2) )
(6) On the right, three keys for A, B, and Eb have been interchanged (A changed to B, B changed to Eb, and Eb changed to A).
(7) On the right, two keys for Bb and C# have been interchanged (Bb changed to C#, C# changed to Bb).
I attach below a copy of the keyboard diagram, marked up to show the Maccann variances.
For the standard Maccann layout, I used the chart at
www.concertina.com/maccann-duet
There are quite a number of layouts for Maccann Duets of standard sizes, plus quite a number of variant arrangements, at
How to Play Chords on Any Maccann Duet Concertina
(Although, in fact, the standard chords which can be played on ALMOST any Maccann Duet concertina would not work on this instrument with all its variances.)
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Here are photographs of a well-documented 57-key Jeffries Maccann:
www.concertina.com/jeffries/jeffries-maccann-no-6/
and its matching 76-page Maccann "chords tutor" (hand-written manuscript):
www.concertina.com/maccann-duet/Jeffries-Maccann-Chords-Tutor-MS.pdf
But Jeffries Maccann Duets, as Robin says, seem to be even less common than Jeffries-System Duets.
I've seen one, and seen pictures of three. An interesting minor point is that some Jeffries Maccann Duets
have reeds arranged radially (like Wheatstone and Lachenal examples), while other Jeffries Maccann Duets
have reeds arranged "rectangularly" (like Jeffries Anglos).
Bob Gaskins
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Well, I'll try a few of the answers; I think nobody knows them all.
In the second column I figure the 'amb' means amboyna. What does the '10 E' mean?"10E" is the model number, in the new model-numbering scheme introduced after the second world war. The number combines the "size" and other features, and the letter is the "system"; so "10E" is a model-10 English, "2A" is a model-2 Anglo, "5D" is a model-5 Maccann Duet, and "3T" is a model-3 Triumph (Crane) Duet.
You can find a Wheatstone pricelist from around 1950 at the Concertina Library, part of Chris Algar's large collection:
www.concertina.com/pricelists/wheatstone-duet/Wh-Pricelist-All-c1950.pdf
The only way we know what the model numbers really meant is by studying the pricelists in conjunction with the ledger entries.
In the third column the '64 octa' means 64 button octagonal. What does the 'TT' stand for?I would say "tenor treble". A slightly later pricelist, again from Chris Algar's archives,
www.concertina.com/pricelists/wheatstone-duet/Wh-Pricelist-All-c1956.pdf
lists the model 10E specifically among the "Tenor Trebles", describing it as 64 keys, AEola new octagonal model, ebony finish, raised keyboards, nickel-silver capped keys, six-fold bellows, large-scale steel reeds, in leather case. Size 7 1/2 inches. (Notes on the price lists say that Amboyna can be substituted at extra cost.)
Finally, what happened to all of those serial numbers that aren't used?On the page you mention,
www.horniman.info/DKNSARC/SD03/PAGES/D3P0580S.HTM
I see only a couple of possibly missing numbers. The diagonal line across the columns below a fully-filled-in entry appears to mean "ditto" or "same as above", indicating a number of similar instruments made in a batch. Your #35773 looks to have been made with a second #35774. I don't know what the check mark by #35774 means, and I don't know whether its 1958 date is the date it was made, or the date that a concertina made around 1951 was finally sold.
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Daniel,
This is a Wheatstone "duett" concertina; you can find a description, keyboard chart, pictures inside and out, and Wheatstone's tutor for the instrument at
This 24-button duett was sold at least from the early 1850s, and was the least-expensive Wheatstone concertina. Wheatstone also published a dozen volumes of music for this instrument, all in C and G (of necessity). Its basic key arrangement is the core of what John Hill Maccann later expanded to the chromatic layout which he patented as the Maccann "New Chromatic Duet English Concertina".
It does indeed superficially resemble German concertinas of the early 1850s, but the production engineering is extremely sophisticated which enabled it to be sold at very low prices. The best current thinking is that it was a Louis Lachenal design for Wheatstone, intended to go head-to-head with German imports at a competitive price, limited to C and G like the imports, but with English-quality action and with the simpler playing made possible by the duet arrangement (same note for each button on push and pull).
Bob Gaskins
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Simon Thoumire, in his article on the web at
http://www.concertina.com/eydmann/thoumire-technique,
says that he uses on-concertina microphones fitted by Accusound
in the UK, and he is listed as a recommender on their website.
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I don't know of any rsimilar ecords of Jones instruments.
Much of what is available about George Jones (half a dozen items) is gathered at
Directory of George Jones in the Concertina Library
(click to see that directory).
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All of the Duet concertina systems are reviewed at
"Concertina Systems" at the Concertina Library
including fingering diagrams for each, historical documents,
and complete instruction books to download.
The dealer with the largest inventory of Duet concertinas is
Chris Algar at Barleycorn Concertinas
who can advise on availability and prices, once you have
settled on a system. He sells worldwide with courier
delivery, and has many satisfied customers in the US.
(Each line with underscores is a link to the corresponding website.)
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I believe the problem in finding this instrument is that it is only
listed on eBay UK. There is an easy way to find eBay auctions
worldwide, no matter where you are located:
Worldwide eBay Listings for Concertinas
This page returns the results of searches on 16 eBay sites all
around the world--US, UK, Ireland, Australia, plus Canada and all
the European sites, India, China, Taiwan, etc.
By default it returns results for concertinas, but you can adjust
the settings to search any one or more eBay national sites for
anything. Clicking on any result opens the page on the eBay site
in the normal way.
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I don't think it's appropriate to think of the Thummer-brand Jammer as "a good sounding electronic Hayden for mere $500". This instrument is considerably more than just an electronic Hayden.
Note, for example, that the two halves of a Thummer are mirror-reversed! This is a considerable improvement over the Hayden design (and would be an equal improvement for the Maccann keyboard).
As Jim Plamondon notes on his website,
"Since a person's hands are mirror-images of each other, mirroring a pair of ThumFields can provide consistent fingering to each hand."
And, as the video demos show, using your fingers to generate MIDI gives you a lot more choices than using your fingers to generate air going through reed-shoes. A Thummer promises to be considerably more interesting than a Hayden duet.
(And, by the way, the quoted price is Australian $497--which is about USD $375 or GBP £200. That's extremely cost-effective.)
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FWIW, I bought a different Wheatstone AEola 46-key Maccann Duet last year, serial # 25457, completely restored, for £1,500. It turned out to be one of the very best values that I've ever gotten--an outstandingly responsive instrument. So £1,283 plus restoration appears to be a modest advance on that. The eBay instrument is considerably later (1928 versus 1912), but still in a good period.
For the eBay instrument just sold, the Ledgers (http://www.horniman.info/DKNSARC/SD02/PAGES/D2P0890S.HTM) show it as a Model 36, octagonal, with nickel plated ends. The nearest Wheatstone Pricelist from Chris Algar's collection (http://www.concertina.com/pricelists/wheatstone-duet/) lists it as selling for about 24 pounds and 15 shillings (with the extras for its shape and metal ends). Plugging that into the "price updater" (http://www.concertina.com/calculator/) gives an estimated year 2000 equivalent price of about £3,600. So the eBay price is roughly one-third of the original value. (There's clearly a lot less demand these days!)
It appears, impressionistically, that many Maccann Duets were made for professional Music Hall performers, who bought the high-quality instruments but usually in larger sizes (67 keys typically). There were also quite a number of 46-key instruments made, but often in the cheaper quality ranges. Thus it is fairly unusual to see an AEola Maccann with 46 keys--small size but high quality. (They are in the Ledgers, but for some reason not actually seen very often.) In any case, I'd think that 46-key AEola Maccanns are certainly rarer than 67-key Maccann AEola Maccanns.
As to "only a 46, no matter how swanky", different people prefer different sizes depending on what kind of music they play. If you're trying to play arrangements by Henry Stanley or David Cornell, most of those are designed for 67 keys, sometimes doable on 57 keys. If you're playing in a "faking" style (chords on both sides, or chords on the left and melody on the right, or melody on the left and chords on the right, or mostly octave melody with variations on both sides) then 46 keys may well be plenty--especially if you are playing in C or G. I've known several people to buy 81-key Maccanns, but they have all (but one) later traded for smaller instruments. I myself have found my preference changing from 67 to 57 to 46, because of the convenient small size and light weight of the 46-key instruments.
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Wes Williams has just published an important new article about the "Serial Number Muddle in Early Wheatstone Ledgers" at the Concertina Library.
This deals with the strange jumble of serial numbers in the four oldest ledgers, covering sales from the 1830s to early 1854. Wes has transcribed all the serial numbers, and by scatter-plotting serial numbers against dates he has revealed that a major part of the jumble comes from the fact that several different ranges of serial numbers are being sold at the same time. After 1850, particularly, this pattern intensifies, with seven or more different ranges being sold over multiple-year periods each.
The demonstration of this unexpected pattern does not yet explain WHY multiple ranges of serial numbers were being sold, but there can't be much doubt that it is a fact, which will focus further work to explain this observation.
The article is at http://www.concertina.com/williams/serial-number-muddle.
Wes promises an update to the article soon, extending the graphs through the 1850s and 1860s and discussing the different patterns of serial number sales as the Wheatstone company goes through changes in manufacturing and management. But it seemed important enough to publish this "in progress" version now.
As a further service, Wes has also published his transcriptions as Serial Number and Date Indexes to Wheatstone Ledgers. So far the indexes corresponding to the time-frame of the article are available: serial number indexes to ledgers C104a, C1046, C1047, and C1048, plus a date index to ledger C104a (the other three are basically in date order anyway).
Each of these indexes is a webpage listing all the serial numbers (or dates) in sorted order, with the ledger name and page number and a live link to the photograph of the original ledger page.
For anyone who wishes to replicate Wes's results or undertake related work, Wes has futher made his transcribed data available in two formats: CSV (comma-separated value) format, which can be manipulated in Excel and other spreadsheet programs, and XML (extensible markup language) format, a modern data format which is easy to deal with in "bespoke" programs and increasingly in standard applications.
It is planned that the indexes to the ledgers will be extended to cover the rest of the volumes, and further indexes (and data sets) will be provided as transcriptions are completed.
Speculation is welcome in this thread about how and why the patterns uncovered by Wes might have come about, but the hope is that some additional evidence will gain added significance in light of these observations, and eventually a well-supported explanation will be established.
Published now at http://www.concertina.com/williams/serial-number-muddle
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Thanks to everyone for the kind words about the Concertina Library.
There wasn't room on the front page of Concertina.net to point out that very little of
the work at the site is mine. The real strength is the hundreds of documents from
the Contributing Authors, all of whom are very well known to members here.
The initial lineup is:
(Each name links to the directory of that author's contributions
at http://www.concertina.com.)
With continuing work from all these experts, plus more to come, there's a lot of
information to be posted in the future.
A link is at the bottom of every page for feedback and suggestions.
Opinions are always welcome, but particularly so during this initial period.
Bob Gaskins
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The expanded Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers site,
with the 19thC Ledgers covering 1834-1891 added,
has just quietly gone live:
it may take a few hours before this becomes visible
everywhere.
This is the completed website, containing all 2,300+
pages from all 17 surviving ledgers, photographed at
the Horniman Museum, London. There are sales
ledgers from the late 1830s to the 1860s, cash
payments ledgers from the late 1840s, production
ledgers from the 1860s to the 1890s, plus later
production ledgers (released in 2003) covering
1910 to 1974--in all cases with gaps in coverage.
The entire collection is available free on the
website, and the identical files can also be
purchased from the online store on a low-cost
CD, shipped anywhere in the world.
This is an early announcement for
www.concertina.net readers. The Horniman Museum
plans to mention the site tomorrow (Saturday) at the
AGM of the Galpin Society, but the real public
announcement will come the first week in July
as part of a press event at the Museum in connection
with the reopening of the Library in its new location.
One point: ALL of the old site links to specific Ledgers
and Ledger pages are still exactly the same, unchanged. So
all links to specific information embedded in web pages,
printed articles, hand-written notes, concertina.net
postings, etc., will not be affected and will continue to
work as before.
The older Ledgers being released now contain a great
deal of important concertina history. The sales records
from the early years contain the names of purchasers.
For example, in November 1857 there is recorded serial
number #10443, sold to "His Highness Duleep Singh," the
head of the Punjabi ruling family after the British annexation
of 1849. This was an instrument costing 12 guineas.
There are many tantalizing names (though many are
difficult to read). In December 1852, an example of the
ill-fated early "Double" duet concertina, serial number 56,
was sold to one "Mr. Gascoigne" for eight guineas. For some
reason this caught my eye. (Link to page.)
In one of the earlier cash Ledgers, Louis Lachenal signs in
his own hand to receive his weekly payment (twenty-four
pounds sterling) from C. Wheatstone & Co. marked "Mr.
Lachenal to pay workmen". Stephen Chambers has discussed
this as part of his evidence for the role Lachenal played in the
Wheatstone organization. (Link to page.)
Margaret Birley, Keeper of Musical Instruments at the
Horniman Museum, has written an Introduction describing
the whole digitizing project and the goals for it: "(1) to
increase public access to these manuscripts in the Museum's
collection, (2) to promote worldwide scholarly research about
them, and (3) to better preserve the manuscripts by making
it unnecessary to handle them."
I have added a very long article describing exactly how
the scans and the webpages were made in semi-technical
detail, with the aim that other museums and libraries will be
encouraged to undertake similar efforts. This project cost
only about $50 in cash and took about 1,000 hours of
volunteer work--the equivalent of a couple of students for
a single summer.
Robert Gaskins
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Price lists for Wheatstone English Concertinas from
Chris Algar's archives are available at The Maccann Duet
Concertina site:
English Concertina Price Lists
(At www.maccann-duet.com, you can type [english price lists] into
the search box on the home page to locate these documents.)
The closest date to your 1912 instrument is a price list circa 1915.
For a model 24, it says:
"22. Best nickel-plated Raised Ends, spherical end silver keys and
finger plates to match, best steel vibrators, solid morocco leather
five-fold bellows, keys and tops bushed throughout, new improved
action, giving short touch and rapid articulation. Powerful tone."
"24. Same materials and finish as No. 22, but with fifty-six keys.
G to G. 21/0/0"
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This sounds like a very useful undertaking.
> what the numbers refer to between the date and the item
> description? (Page 1, 1910)
The numbers in that column are the model numbers. The
only key we have so far to the model numbers are old
Wheatstone price lists. For English pricelists, see:
For duet and a few anglo pricelists see:
All these valuable documents were collected by Chris Algar of
Barleycorn Concertinas.
As the pricelists reflect, the nomenclature for Anglo models
changed from time to time. In the earliest 20thC pricelist we
have (c. 1910), there are just "A", "B", and "C". Later,
apparently as early as 1912, all concertinas have numeric
model numbers: up to about 30 for English, low thirties to
low forties for Maccann duets, fifties and low sixties for
Anglos, seventies and low eighties for Crane duets. (I don't
have a chart of all these--it would be useful to collect descriptions
and match them to model numbers.) After World War II,
Anglos have models "1A" to "6A", where the numbers go up
with size and "A" means "Anglo" (versus "E" for English,
"D" for Maccann Duet, and "T" for Crane (Triumph) Duet.
> If AG indicates Anglo German, can I accept that 25019
> is a 57 key Anglo German?
Yes, and a "class B" model in particular (mentioned in
the price lists).
> "25014 – 25019 AG Nickel Rosewood Skiver Date”
This is a set of six, "class A" model. The c. 1910
pricelist says: "Class A.--Rosewood, metal keys, bushed,
five-fold bellows, brass nuts and screws, screwed notes,
steel reeds. ... Nickel-plated Tops to Class A, GBP 1
extra." So, nickel-plated ends on rosewood frames. Don't
know what "Skiver" [leather] refers to, or what "Date"
means.
> What does “solid bel” refer to? (25079)
"Bel" is likely bellows. Note that #25080 says
"mor[occo] bel[lows]". Not clear to me what "solid"
means, but Anglos often have bellows of a different
construction from that used for english and duets.
> Can I accept that when I see a 40 key concertina in these
> documents, that it is an Anglo even if the letters AG do
> not appear?
Not usually. If the model number is that of an Anglo,
then you can take it to be an Anglo. But if the model
number is that of an English or Duet, then no. All the
elements of the ledger entry should be considered. "AG"
is not always used, but it is used at least sometimes all
the way to the separation of Anglo production into
different ledgers.
Do the two 40-key Anglos that you know have
appropriate Anglo model numbers in the ledgers?
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A new document has been discovered, a booklet authored
by John Hill Maccann. It is reliably dated to 1902, and
this copy was discovered in Australia where Professor
Maccann was making an extended performing tour during that
year.
The text of the document consists of two sections: (1) a
part of the "how to play" text from Maccann's earlier
publication The Concertinist's Guide (1888); and (2) an
interview with Professor Maccann reprinted from The Era
theatrical newspaper of London, issue of 25 January 1902.
In addition to the text, the booklet contains some new
photographs of Maccann, including the first known
photographs of him playing the concertina.
How to Play the Concertina:
English, Anglo, German, and Duet Instruments
by J. H. Maccann, C.A.M.
On the web at
www.maccann-duet.com/howtoplay/
Pictures of all pages are available in two sizes,
and the entire document can be downloaded in PDF format.
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Question (1): I know that the photographs of concertinas in the Horniman Museum collection were removed temporarily from the Horniman's main website (www.horniman.ac.uk) as part of site upgrades, but I don't have any information about when they will reappear. They are missed.
Question (2): The remaining ledgers from the Horniman's collection are in active preparation. Scanning of all ledgers has been finished, and the scans are being processed for the web now (I'm doing the work). The free website (www.horniman.info) should be complete sometime early in 2005, and then will contain every page of every ledger known to exist. At that time a new version of the CD will also be available for online purchase, containing the whole collection. But there are no ledgers known for the period 1900-1910, so don't expect to see anything for this period.
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Very recently posted:
Which Duet Concertina--Hayden or Maccann?
"A comparative review of two concertinas: a Stagi Hayden Duet concertina (c. 2003), and a Lachenal Maccann Duet concertina (c. 1900). Each instrument has 46 keys, and each cost £500 ($800) ready to play."
This is a very long review, even though it doesn't include Jim's Crane Duets. It does describe some shortcomings of the Stagi when compared to a vintage concertina of the same size and costing the same amount of money--and that comparison would apply to a vintage Maccann or a vintage Crane.
The review specifically addresses the range of playable keys on a 46-key instrument (Hayden and Maccann), and discusses the trade-off of extra range versus extra weight in the two systems. For me, light weight is important--and vintage duets are much lighter than the Stagi for the same range (or, vintage duets can have a larger range than the Stagi at the same weight).
Most of the resources available on the web for the various duet systems are linked from:
Other Duet Systems (Early Wheatstone Double, Early Wheatstone Duett, Late Wheatstone Chidley)
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[Prewar Wheatstone anglo price lists seem to be extremely rare, the one in question is the only one I have ever seen. (Then again, prewar Wheatstone anglos are pretty rare too ...)
I posted on the web (about a year ago) a full colour scan of an earlier pre-war Wheatstone Anglo list of prices and models which belongs to Chris Algar of Barleycorn Concertinas. It is dated from internal evidence as circa 1910:
Wheatstone Anglo Pricelist c. 1910
The instruments listed are called "Chromatic-Anglo Concertinas" and include the "Linota" trademark. Instruments come in regular range plus tenors, baritones, and basses. Each of the four ranges is available in three grades: "Class A" (rosewood, ordinary), "Class B" (rosewood, superior), and "Class C" (ebony, finest in every specification), and the particulars of the three classes are listed. Prices for a Class A begin around three pounds sterling, and for a Class C at about six pounds sterling.
The "Class A", "Class B", and "Class C" designations sometimes appear in the Wheatstone ledger entries for Anglos as model indications.
More information about this pricelist and how it was dated is available on the web at
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I just found an unexpected source for hexagonal cases for concertinas: the religious supplies store at Westminster Cathedral (Roman Catholic) in London. They sell "chalice cases" (the cash register receipt says "portacalice" in italian) which are ideal to fit a 46-key or 57-key duet or any other hexagonal concertina of similar size. Presumably other religious-supplies dealers handle similar cases.
Large size is 18cm (7 inches) across from flat to flat and 28cm (11 inches) long, inside measures. The case is rigid black plastic, with latch and handle; plenty strong enough to carry an instrument around, but not for standing on (and not for shipping). The inside is lined in bright red velveteen. As with other cases, some sort of blocking would need to be fitted to compress a specific instrument. Cost is 22 pounds sterling.
(There is also a smaller size with inside measure 15cm across by 21cm long--but that size is too small to hold a 46-key Maccann Duet.)
The photograph attached shows how a 57-key Jeffries Maccann Duet fits the case perfectly, as though it had been custom-made.
Wheatstone #4950 1852 - Copy of Wheatstone Ledgers-Interpretation
in Concertina History
Posted
A calculator specifically for historical price comparisons of concertinas is online at Calculate Modern Values of Historic Concertina Prices. For 15 guineas, it gives a "year 2000 value in sterling" of £ 8,833.86 (in pounds and decimal pence). So that's a substantial fraction of a modern annual wage. The page at the link gives some explanation of the bases for the computation.