Theo

A general principle of selling antique items is to leave them as they are with the most basic cleaning, or preferably doing nothing. Sticking new papers on bellows that never had them will reduce the value of your concertina.

You could perhaps harvest old piano accordion reeds and reshape those.

This topic would be worth reading for general experience of how people chose their instrument.

I think the first digit is a 3. The typeface often makes it difficult to distinguish between 3 and 8.

I count 46 buttons in the photos rather than 48

Peli cases are a bit lighter than the square black Italian or Chinese cases available from music shops, and much lighter than flight cases, or the military case mentioned here. The pluckable foam fillings are best avoided. With use they release small particles that can get into reeds and stop them working. I endorse John Dipper's plea above. Peli cases can be blocked, though the angles formed by the sides which slope inwards towards the base mean some careful cutting of angles to get parallel sides to locate the concertina. I've used dense styrofoam covered with soft

Lachenal 35 key Crane Duet for sale, steel reeds, concert pitch, £550. Cosmetically not perfect, but it's a decent player, and not expensive. More details on my website

You could consider a Hohner Basso piano accordion. They crop up on ebay.de from time to time, usually pretty cheap. Well made instruments though.

Thank you that's all useful information

I'm looking for information on the maker of a concertina marked "Thomas Concertina with serial number 10. The concetina is GD stainless steel ends, 7 fold bellows. It's not Jeff Thomas of http://www.thomasconcertinas.com/. I've been in touch with Jeff and his number 10 is CG wood ends and 6 fold bellows. There is a name of an owner inside and a date in 1986 Any clues?

The fretwork appears to be a Jones pattern, and possibly the bellows papers too. The end bolts appear to be modern stainless steel replacements.

And 2XXXXX numbers on anglos like this one also with casein buttons.

I have a hunch that an old manual typewriter might give the right appearance.

That would make sense Dave. Italian reed makers supplying "tuned" reeds usually supply them a few cents sharp because doing the final in situ tuning is slightly easier tuning down than up.

The catalogue page on their website illustrates the current Hayden Duet, scroll down to find it. Does this show an improved layout?