Lachenal English - Green Leather?

[Dieppe]

I recently purchased a Lachenal 48-buttton English Concertina (#11126) to restore, and the leather is green. On front of the thumb straps the leather looks black, but on the bellows, the top of the thumb straps, and even bleeding a little on the bellows paper is green.

 

So my question is this: Was this concertina originally green and the black of the thumb straps are either faded, brushed off, or not well dyed? Or, was the leather originally black, but turned green with the ravages of time? Exposure to moth balls? (It smells of moth balls (Naphthalene?).) (Shouldn't those be "anti-Moth balls" anyway?)

 

Patrick

[Theo]

Since thumbstraps are items that are expected to wear out, its most likely that they are replacements made in black leather. I've seen green leather that has become discoloured almost to black, but I've not seen black leather that has turned green.

[apprenticeOF]

I also have an older Lachenal English (17219), and it has original green leather. A $6 jacket from a thrift store provided matching leather to make thumstraps.