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I am new to the group. I play the accordion (for the past 50 years, beginning at the age of 7) and three different concertinas. I live in upstate South Carolina and play at the local Farmer's Market to keep in practice, and last week a woman gave me with a "Bandonion", in much need of repair. I have attempted to research this since I had never seen anything like it before and it is very much unlike any of my current concertinas. It's apparently a Chemnitzer. My questions: 1. Can anyone make a guess as to the age of it, or tell me how to find this out? 2. Can anyone tell me where I might be able to get spare parts to repair this? 3. Are there any repair shops available in case this exceeds my capabilities? Thanks!

Often I notice in pictures of vintage concertinas that oval openings are often designed into the fretwork. Sometimes these openings are empty and sometimes they are covered with a suspended paper label. I have always assumed that the empty ones were originaly covered with label when those instruments were new. I am curious about the history of these label openings in vintage concertinas and have a few questions about them: Were paper labels used in both wooden and metal ended concertinas? Where these labels primarily to display information about the manufacturer or were they also used for other purposes like information about resellers or distributers? I have a 1880's era Lachenal New Model with a paper label in such an area (as shown). While it looks old I have seen comments in this forum regarding fabricating replacement labels leading to a few more questions: Were the original labels standardized and/or did they evolve over the years (possibly providing collaboarative dating of instruments)? Is there a consensus about how many original labels still exist and how may to be seen are reproductions?