Bill Crossland

From Dowright's previously quoted figures, this would date to around 1877

Great music, beautifully delivered.... Thanks Hugh

From Dowrights information in this thread, this Lachenal (not Wheatstone!) dates from around 1870 - 1875. Sometimes the first digit of the number is hidden behind the fretwork, so it could be 142759, which would be 1890's. You would need to have a better look at the number, which will also be stamped inside, to confirm.

Frequently Ab/Eb and old pitch. Quality good on those I've seen and worked on

CP - chrome plated.....?

Nickel Plated

Dowright has an anglo attributed to 1883 with serial number 74693, so the anglo sequence doesn't fit....

Maybe the value was in the provenance, owned by Douglas "Dougie" Gray (of whom I had never heard), but the other lots from his esoteric collection included a wrecked Double Bass which went for £11k on the hammer, bidders in Spain and the US driving the prices onwards and upwards. Dougie and his brother were comedians popular in the 60's said to have been, in part, inspiration for Monty Python...... https://www.sworder.co.uk/news/organised-chaos--items-from-the-estate-of-the-late-douglas-dougie-gray/?pc=3628

From Dowright's previously published information, he has 51,799 dated as 1878 and 70,510 in 1882

We currently use UPS for shipping both to the EU and the "Rest of the World". Prior to Jan 1st, VAT was payable on EU shipments, but not ROW. Their system has already changed so that VAT is not applied to EU shipments, so this shouldn't be a problem for you.

Sorry, but the pictures don't seem to have uploaded....

Thanks Dave. I wasn't thinking of fully sinking them in, maybe 2 - 3 mm, and the offset of the two reeds in each chamber would probably allow that in all but the really big reeds at the bottom end. The double action bass (baritone?) body that I have (the concertina, not me) had standard thickness reed pans (6.8mm). I just wondered whether there was any sonic advantage in sinking them in... Trial and error looks like the way forward!

Having made my first baritone anglo, I managed to find all the lower reeds I needed from a Wheatstone MacCann Duet (which was well past restoration) except for the low C. I have a good collection of French made harmonium reeds and used one to complete the anglo. The lowest octave of both reed types are all surface mount. I'm now moving on to the bass anglo which will use a lot more brass harmonium reeds, and wondered why surface mount was used, rather than sinking them into the reed pan as with the conventional dovetail reeds? It's a lot easier to make the reedpans for surface mount, that's for sure! The Alexandre reed frames I have are up to 5mm thick in the lower octave, and I have some bass Esteve reeds in 7mm frames. Surface mounting takes up a considerable volume of the air available in the chambers, sinking them into the reed pan would give more air in the same size chamber...... Would it improve the sound transmission as well? American made harmonium reeds tend to be very much thinner frames, comparable to standard treble concertina reeds, around 2mm deep. Howard's picture in this thread shows what appear to be European made reeds in a nice thin frame too..... Did frame size and weight add to the performance of the note? I assume, and am open to correction, that French made harmonium reeds were easily available and for the relatively low volumes of such reeds required, the London based concertina makers would find it easier to buy them in to use, rather than tool up to make them? I'd welcome any thoughts before finalising a design!

Listen to Noel Hill's tune interpretations to hear the piping influences (from Willy Clancy and Seamus Ennis) in his playing