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Transporting Vintage Concertinas Since Obama's 2014 Executive Orde


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... the 1920s-era catalog used the word "ebony", plain and simple. I thought the misleading term used in the 1950s catalog to describe black-painted ends was either "ebonized" (or perhaps "ebonised"). But I just checked the appraisal, and the term was "ebony-finished". Since they'd used "ebony" with a qualifier to mean "not really ebony", I naively assumed that when the 1920s catalog/pricelist used the word "ebony" without any qualifiers it actually mean real ebony. My mistake.

 

Actually, the 1915 and 1918 Price Lists describe the model No. 5a as being "Ebony, superior finish" and the No. 6 as "Ebony, Raised Ends, very finest finish" on the left hand side of the page inside, but the No. 17 (48-key Aeola) is "very finest Ebony finish" on the right hand page, and the 1920 one is only very slightly different.

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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Had to repair broken end of an early Wheatstone Linota. ( not a raised end ) it was not laminated , but solid Ebony. I don't think they kept that up long though. I have plenty of Ebony, and know the difference between that and other species, ebonized or not. It was an early instrument though. All later ones I've seen were painted or ebonized.

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I believe a member here purchased a George Jones Ebony English from the Button Box, 48 key treble, that had solid ebony ends. It was evident from the pictures that it was solid ebony as opposed to veneers. I always thought that veneers were employed as a cost saving measure, but as others have pointed out, they have advantages over solid wood, especially when you consider that concertina ends tend to be thin and intricately cut, making them especially prone to splitting along the grain.

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I've just come across this article, which if it is accurate, would presumably mean no post-1947 piano with an ivory keyboard can be sold legally in the UK in the future? This seems quite extraordinary given that new ivory was sold quite legally in the UK until the early 1980's. The article also seems to suggest strong support for a total ban of all objects containing ivory, which would rule out all pianos of whatever age... Given that the regulation for ivory is tends to be applied to exotic woods a few years later, it does somewhat bode ill for the future of historical musical instruments in general. Perhaps in a few years it might even be illegal to display ivory objects in museums, lest they encourage the illicit trade in old pianos!

 

Adrian

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  • 2 weeks later...

Perhaps pther sellers, repairmen, and so forth can add commentary/ experience to this subject. As for me, I've recently had a late-19th-century Jones, rosewood-ended anglo sent here from the UK.. I don't recall there was any customs or other governmental hassle resulting. Who knows? Maybe the officials on duty were feeling generous that day?

Edited by CrP
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