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Davelee

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    melksham,Wilts,UK

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  1. Just to confirm it is an Anglo Bb/F appears to be in old pitch. Surprisingly light for the amount of buttons. Requires a fair bit of work I would think.
  2. From my recent research into the Jeffries family, I discovered from the 1921 census that Charles jr sold the business to his brother Thomas in 1919. The two younger brothers lived at 23 Praed st. at the time of the census. George Jeffries left to remarry soon after. Both said they were involved in concertina business. It could be that Lachenal made the instrument during late 1920’s because Jeffries had long finished making new instruments.
  3. For sale. Lachenal 26 button anglo concertina, G/D, Rosewood ends, 6 fold as new bellows. Its in excellent order and comes with a gig bag. Looking for a price as close to £1200 + postage as possible. The concertina is near Bath would welcome any inspection. Just PM me. Would appreciate UK buyers only. If sold through concertina.net will make a donation.
  4. Hi Dick & Wes For your interest I'm enclosing a photo (trying to!!)of the ident on the Duet as mentioned in my last post. Dave
  5. For a number of years now I have been studying the Jeffries family and trying to make sense of the age of individual instruments. The question here is utilizing the end plates to determine age. This way is probably the easiest (?) and most common way without opening up or receipts giving other means of possible dating. Taking Dicks 3 instruments the bone button and the 38k are what I would term the Crabb (a) design. The larger 45k design ( probably came into being round about the 23 Praed st., period say c1890-2. So I would put the bone button as the oldest followed by the 38 key even though Dick had a receipt to prove when it was bought in 1899 it did not say it was new. Who actually designed the ( design flat or raised is unknown, but I suspect Charles jnr. had something to do with it. Now my theory (and I could be wrong) is that all these end plates where out sourced, therefore after a certain time say when 23 Praed St came into being both Crabb and Jeffries used the same supplier(s). They then added their own ident. Just like Jeffries did with the Crabbs supplied to them between 1880-1890. All that Jeffries did was to stamp ‘C.Jeffries Maker’ between the buttons. The instruments supplied by Crabbs in the 1880,s whole instruments were made to order, but when they started making their own from scratch they would have ordered in bulk eg endplates, receipt books etc.so therefore you would have carry over stock ie William Kimber inst. From 1909 still bore the C.Jeffries 23 Praed St etc 3 years after Charles snr had died. Or was it Charles jnr?? Or had it been in stock since before 1906? Was it second hand, all very tantalizing. Another example is the 1922 receipt signed by Thomas with 23 Praed St address. And I think some even later, these books must have lasted a long time. The oval with ‘C Jeffries Maker’ I also think originated in this period before 23 Praed St. got going. In the back of my mind I sometimes ask myself the question which ‘C. Jeffries’ was this; father or son??? This is because I think Charles jnr had much more of an influence on the family business than we think. Possibly before his father retired. Some of the plates I have inspected from the ‘Jeffries Bros’ seem to have been chrome plated and today seem to have tarnished, although others are still the nickel type. Another of my theories is that the two older brothers were the only ones involved in ‘Jeffries Bros’. In 1911 the 2 younger brothers were in the drinks trade. The elder brothers were still instrument makers and Charles jnr was a ‘Working Partner’. So again I theorise that the Jeffries Bros dated from 1908 - 1917 In 1910 Charles was the tenant at 23 the owner being a Mrs Grace. His sister was living there in 1911, but in 1912 her husband died so I suspect she moved out. We know that both Charles jnr and William made individual instruments probably while still working for the family. Though the few instruments that William made seem to be stamped ‘38 Craven Park’ he moved there in about 1905. By the end of WW1 Charles was the only brother putting his name to instruments whether it be repairing/modifying/dealing in older instruments or making very few new instruments. About 2 years ago I bought a raised end duet for Charles jnr granddaughter made by him inscribed C.Jeffries Maker & Inventor 16 Aldershot Rd Kilburn NW6 which indicates a post WW1 instrument. Best regards Dave
  6. I would like to concur everything that has been said before.Beryl & I spent saturday night trying to avoid being swept away in our tent by the northern winds! But sunday night we had a very good nights sleep at the Royal!!! The sessions at the Royal were excellent and all the workshops I attended were of a very high standard. The organisation of the events must have been extremely complex but this was a credit to Mark and Joan. If someone can predict good weather next year we will bring our tent again!!! Regards from the south west(windy & raining)
  7. Wes, They're so rare that I've never seen, nor even heard of a William Jeffries concertina before. It's a very rare beast. There seems to be one significant fact missing from the article, which is that for the 1901 Census William gave his occupation as Metal Music Reed Voicer & Repairer, so he appears to have been the one who made the Jeffries reeds by that time, perhaps having taken over that role from his father Charles, who is listed as a Retired Musical Instrument Dealer. My 1937 Music Trade Directory shows that Jeffries Bros., Concertina makers, were still in business at 18, Lincoln Mews, Kilburn, N.W.6 at that time, though we don't know which members of the family were still involved. And the Irish Accordion player John Clifford, who moved to London in the 1930s, volunteered to me that he'd got reeds in his piano accordion replaced by people called Jeffries in Kilburn around then. I've been trying to find more information about William in the meantime, but all I've found so far has come from historical telephone directories that are just starting to become available online. He is listed, though only for the years 1930-32, at 38, Craven Park, N.W.10, with the telephone number WILlsden 6891. By the way, the lack of the 10 in the postal district code on William Jeffries' name stamp suggests that he was already making concertinas in his own right by 1917 (when the numbered subdivisions were introduced "as a wartime measure" - they're still with us!). From 1917 onwards his postal district was N.W.10.
  8. The reason i posted the topic is that the address is stamped on the reed pan of my M/E 28 button instrument. It was probably made in the early 1870,s probably made wholly or in part by Charles or John Crabb. The instruments with C.Jeffries between the buttons were made in the 1880,s and were probably the first instruments to be made entirely by the Jeffries family. regards Dave
  9. HAVE ANY OF YOU JEFFRIES OWNERS GOT THIS ADDRESS ON YOUR INSTRUMENT?
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