Vickers (Lachenal?) 46k MacCann on eBay

[Tom Rhoads]

A Vickers-branded, apparently Lachenal, 46 key duet, identified as a MacCann:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160406459159

 

I'd be curious to hear comments on this from the gallery. Obviously there is not that much hard data to go on (though more than is often the case on eBay), but there are pictures.

 

thanks,

Tom

[Theo]

As far as I'm aware Vickers was not a concertina builder, but they did repairs, and also provided a service to replace brass reeds with steel. I think they did repairs and traded in instruments too. So the presence of the Vickers stamp shows that this concertina passed through Vickers shop in some way, but not that it was made by them.

[michael sam wild]

As far as I'm aware Vickers was not a concertina builder, but they did repairs, and also provided a service to replace brass reeds with steel. I think they did repairs and traded in instruments too. So the presence of the Vickers stamp shows that this concertina passed through Vickers shop in some way, but not that it was made by them.

 

 

Looks nice, bellows OK. I've got a Lachenal like it.

 

Another eBayer has posted a few commnets on the eBay page re Vickers as a middleman

[Geoffrey Crabb]

All J J Vickers reed work was done by Crabb's.

 

Geoff

[michael sam wild]

It went for £620 last night 22 bids. Anyone here buy it.

 

Compared with Anglos it sems ridicu;ously cheap Could start a duet movement for beginning players!

[Ivan Viehoff]

Rather like most Anglo players wanting 30 keys, or not far short, most duet players want 57 keys on their Maccann (and 55 usually isn't near equivalent). 48 will do in Crane, or just 46 in Hayden, but the specific design of 46-key Maccanns makes then rather less useful than these boxes. A 48-key Crane or 57-key Maccann in that condition would have fetched a lot more. And I think the only Haydens which have ever come up have been Stagis, which we all know isn't quite the same thing.

 

For the price of a duet of useful size (to most people), you can probably get a modern 30-key Anglo of hybrid construction. So if you are happy with one of those, you won't save any money by taking up duet.

 

On ebay I've only seen a handful of 46-key Maccanns go for £600+, and with the exception of an Aeola that came up, when they do it's usually Algar stock. We don't even know if it is in concert pitch, though given the apparent quality of the refurbishment on this one I would guess it probably is. Bog standard 46-keys on ebay, needing a revalving etc and of uncertain pitch level, can go for half that price.