Paul Read

It did make things interesting for a (hopefully short) while though!

That would be the pretty brass-reeded one. I see that my steel-reeded one has reached its reserve (7366130835). Lots of choice there lately.

Just for clarification, the one I was referring to had one catch and it didn't......catch that is; leading to a concertina doing a bocci ball impersonation. The hinges were pretty wobbly too. Of course, it may have been made in a different part of China to the ones Frank saw! I actually have an aluminum one that I bought off ebay and then modified to carry two concertinas (modified by making the top smaller so it didn't stand so high. It works great but it's too fiddly to want to do it too often. This one wasn't brilliant but it was way better quality than my friend's.

The Fallon cases are very nice. I'd be cautious with this ebay case though. A friend has one that looks the same and it is very shoddily made.

How about this in your stocking? You may have to wash the stocking afterwards though! http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Concertina-In-Need...1QQcmdZViewItem

An old couple were given one wish each. The guy asked the fairy for a wife 50 years younger than him. So the fairy made him 50 years older.

I think this one was on about 2 weeks ago? http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-30-button-Conc...1QQcmdZViewItem

Dave, Here are a couple: http://www.vancouvermorrismen.org/ http://www.mossyback.com/ I'm pretty sure there are a couple more but these guys will get you started Paul

For those who don't know, Greg makes beautiful hard cases that would be the perfect Christmas present to house your treasures. Go to the Carroll concertina web page to see some pics. I got myself one as an early Christmas present.

I'm not sure, but I think he's been banned from Melodeon.net

Do you have any pictures?

Somebody sure went to town on this one. French polished inside and stainless steel button inserts! End result? A bottom end Lachenal selling for GBP390! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

I looked on Google. It seems he's a Country and Western singer. It's not clear whether he's American or British.

One small addendum: If the message comes through ebay, you're probably OK with second chance offers. Requiring payment through Western Union is one regular give-away. Another is when they make the bidders list private so that people can't be warned. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a case of stolen identity so be cautious giving out the name to everyone. You could check this by googling yellow pages to track a phone number down and calling him. At least if it is stolen identity, he'll be warned.

How can he be Chinese? He's got a shop in Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire! It must be the Lytham St. Annes in Guangdong Province. It's strange though; when I do a search, these Chinese ones don't show up.

The Jackies from Concertina Connection seem to be pretty good for starters.

Are these already taken off?

No takers? Where's Stephen?

If it was me, I'd be more inclined to look at the restored Lachenals that are on at the moment.

You can never be sure with these things, but none of the usual warning signs are there. I think this is just an antiques dealer who, like most of them, doesn't know what they've got. I haven't seen these instruments come up before.

Here's an interesting animal. Looks English but severely restricted on the fretwork. http://cgi.ebay.com/Anglo-concertina-circa...1QQcmdZViewItem

Bill, Any chance of you posting a photograph?

Is this a german one or some little known english maker - or neither? http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-20-KEY-CONCERT...1QQcmdZViewItem

Especially photos!

Except that you can have too much humidity too! How many cheap Lachenals have I seen witth the end bolts rusted solid