Dowright

Barry Your Lachenal concertina was made in or around 1905.

David, No 70510 Circa 1882 Tealeaf, No 147438 Circa 1896

Andy, No 103779 Circa 1888

Tiposx, No 43365 Circa 1905

Lachenal No. 7103 (circa 1867) 20-key in C/G 4 7/8 inches across flat hexagonal rosewood ends Bone buttons Steel reeds 6-fold green leather bellows with decorative papers "M & Co" in fretwork (Metzler & Co. of 37 Great Marlborough Street, London--a major retailer of Lachenal concertinas from the earliest days onward.) There are some hairline cracks in the fretwork, but of no consequence. The fretwork is absolutely stable, because the fretwork on each side is backed by an adhering baffle. If anything, the minor cracks add charm. In a soft gig bag (see photo) and comes with a very unusual item--its original hexagonal cardboard box. Appraised for US $2500 in 2018. For sale for US $1500 plus $100 shipping/insurance. Payment by bank draft or personal check in the US; bank draft only from outside the US. I do not use PayPal. If interested, please send a personal message and also indicate your interest in a "Reply" to this posting.

Suzie, Anglo No. 155207 circa 1897 Peter T', English No. 58110 circa 1922 The serial number is NOT No. 68110 . The numbering of English system Lachenals ended around 60700. The only higher number that I have seen is No. 87733--but that was an erroneous stamping. Klandfors, Anglo No. 98033 circa 1887 Conzertino, English No. 44289 circa 1905 Paul Read, Anglo No. 197472 circa 1926 Dave Pratie, Sorry, but I have no additional information about Dixon Brothers in Philly Vaudeville.

Dave Pratie, Maccann No 1876 - circa 1898 (Bill of sale for No 1819 dated 8 February 1898) Maccann No 2184 - circa 1902 (And it was used by the Dixon Brothers in Vaudeville in Philadelphia) Robin Tims, No. 23681 - circa 1873. (Right at the crossover from "Louis Lachenal" to "Lachenal & Co." No. 21287 is a 20 key with Louis Lachenal label; No. 24786 is a 22-key with a Lachenaal & Co. label).

Squeezebox", No 49427 circa 1878 (I have a receipt for No. 46951 dated 1 January 1878) No 142125 circa 1895 (receipt for No. 140871, October 1895) I would appreciate descriptions of them, beyond just Anglo--number of keys, wood/metal fret, bone/metal buttons, steel/brass reeds, number of bellows folds.

Tiposx, No. 44667 made circa 1905.

Sorry for the typo. No 15584 is circa 1870 instead of 1890. No. 55936 is circa 1914.

Paul, 15584 c 1890 27590 c 1887 30566 c 1891 36733 c 1898 52313 c 1911 57494 c 1919 57544 c 1919 57970 c 1920 58748 c 1921 167221 c 1899

Christian, No. 59204 circa 1923 No. 39818 circa 1897 Paul, No. 151369 1896

Robert, Circa 1909.

Robert, Please look again. The serial number of 6880 seems to be incorrect, either because the lead digit is "4" or less or the number is only 688. I have one Maccann listing of 48718, but I believe the last 8 is a mis-stamp and should not be there at all. Otherwise, the highest Maccann number is 4924, and the highest for Cranes is 4960.

Stephen, It is hard to date a Lachenal concertina without any description--only the serial number and not even knowing if it is English or Anglo. I will assume that your No 14450 is an English concertina that I have seen--48 key, wood fretwork, stamped bone buttons, 4-fold bellows, sold by H. Solomon, London, and made in about 1868.

I do not know about Bernie recordings, but I know that her daughter, Holly, has recorded. Maybe, mother and daughter play in the same style. I am pretty sure that Holly is a Senior All-Ireland Champion on concertina and other instrument(s)..

Lachenal Baritone English concertinas. My sample of English Lachenals currently numbers 2702; hopefully, it is pretty representative of the 60,000 plus population. Baritone English represent 2 per cent of total. First baritone in sample is No 10376. First 56-key is No 11356. Of course, both made by "Louis Lachenal" (i.e., before "Lachenal & Co.") Total baritones in the data = 54. a) 16 New Model (12 are 48 key, 1 is 56 key; and 3 are 62 key, 64 key, and 65 key, respectively. b) 7 Inimitable (all 48 key) c) 3 Excelsior (all 48 key) d) 7 Edeophones (5 are 48 key, 1 is a 56 key, and 1 is a 35 key). e) 21 Other (12 are 48 key, 6 are 56 key, and 3 are 35 key). Some of these are probably (a), (b), (c), or (d), but I was not provided fuller descriptions. There is also a 31-key Baritone/Bass. I have no idea what the 35-key ones are like; maybe they really are also Baritone/Bass. (Maybe my friend, Chris, will know more about them.)

nkgibbs, No. 36768 Anglo is tough to date, by I would guess circa 1874. I wish I could be as definite as I am about the ones for Paul Reed, below. Paul Reed, No 1444444 Anglo was made in 1896. No. 53880 Edeophone was made in June 1923. The Anglo certainly was not purchased by a Chinese; they are extremely superstitious about the number "4".

Oberon, It appears to me that your 28 key Anglo Lachenal is serial number 6.116516 Please confirm.

Makt, I am thinking that your saying "fancy brass inlays" indicates that your concertina is an Inimitable model. Can you check it out?

MakT, I cannot do any better than your estimate of circa 1909 for No 49209. This is in a range where I have some seemingly contradicting "evidence." In the past, I commented on caution about confusing a resale date and an original sale date, based on handwritten dates inside the instruments. Something that I think has not been discussed is the confusing of purchase dates and manufacturing dates. Today, there are waiting lists for new concertinas in the quality range of Lachenal. However, Lachenal had an inventory. Picture the following: It is 1913 and you step into the very small showroom at Lachenal headquarters. Directly in front of you is a showcase with several finished Lachenal concertinas. Hanging on the wall behind the case is a large poster showing Dutch Daly, comedian/concertinst. Inside the case is English-system N. 49209 which has been languishing in the showcase since its manufacture in 1909. You asked about 3000+ for the average annual production of Lachena English/Anglo/duet concertinas. That is not a bad guess. In the first decade of the 20th century, the average was about 1500 per year. for English, 1500 per year for Angle. and 170 per year for Crane and Maccann duets combined.

Michael, No. 26906 circa 1886.

Stephen, I'm surprised that you did not provide the serial number. I think that I can see "1777xx". I'm going to guess that it is "177738" ( circa 1906) which is already in my data.

Jim. I have a note to myself, saying "29000 around 1889". I think 1890 is a good estimate for No 29079. Bills of sale for No. 32620 and No. 32621 are dated 1894 and March 1895, respectively. I think that Lachenal production in the period was about 800 English concertinas per year. So I will go with circa 1890. Merry Christmas. Randy

Saltwater, I date your No. 46453 to circa 1907. My guess is that it has 56 keys ( which would be the same as No 46455). Right? And it has wood fretwork and metal keys. Right?