Wheatstones? Where are you!?

[Dan A]

It seems, as I've been afoot looking for instruments, that Wheatstones very rarely show up for sale. Relative to Jeffries instruments, as a comparison of price, quality and vintage value, it seems Jeffries change hands pretty frequently, while I've seen maybe one Wheatstone Anglo in the past 6 months. Even amongst players I know, most have Jeffries concertinas or Jeffries-style instruments (Shakespear, Connor, etc.).

 

These things go in tides, no doubt, but I'm curious as to whether there's a qualitative reason for this difference.

 

--Dan

[Theo]

a qualitative reason for this difference.

 

 

I think there is a quantitative difference! Wheatstone made very few anglos, almost all Jeffries concertinas are anglos

[Dan A]

Did not know that!

 

--Dan

[Geoff Wooff]

If you look through the Wheatstone Ledgers, available on-line (link at Concertina .com), you can see just how many Anglos they made. Firstly you look at the Wheatstone price lists (also at C.com) to find the model numbers for the types of concertina you wish to find in the ledgers, then look down the model numbers column in the Legders to find when and how many they produced.

I have been doing this recently to see what the Duet situation is (or was), when they were popular and which models and what years they were made. Suprisingly few were produced in comparison to the Englishes. However, after 1930 the percentage of Anglos increases dramatically, the Duets drop off very sharply and the EC's just plod along regardless.

 

Happy hunting,

Geoff.