Dating A Lachenal From The Serial Number

[wes williams]

English 21202 estimated as c. 1877.

[SonnyMartin]

Hi, had this McCann system duet Lachenal for a while now, it's had its bellows replaced. Anyone have any idea approx when it was made?

Serial No. - 8617

[wes williams]

Thanks for the pictures Sonny,

I don't think we can help you on this one, as almost all the reports (~625) of Lachenal duets we have stop just below 5,000. I've looked carefully at the number in the bellows and it seems to be made up of two different stampings, one for '17' and another which appears to be '86' but looks more to me  like its '98' and stamped the other way up, as the '8' digit usually has the larger 'o' shape  at the bottom. Faced with something like this I'd want to examine the reed pans in case they gave us any further clues.  Any theories folks?

[jkmelb]

Hello. Could you please help me dating my "Lachenal & Co." 20-key anglo concertina, number 172697, steel reeds, mahogany ends, 5-fold bellows.

[jkmelb]

Here two images...

[wes williams]

Thanks for the info and photos. We would estimate your anglo number 172697 as circa 1904.

[4to5to6]

What would be the circa year for Lachenal Excelsior 21205?

[wes williams]

We'd estimate this English model as c.1877.

[4to5to6]

Thanks Wes.  Much appreciated.

 

I am really curious about 10577 as well aa featured on the Concertina Museum's site:

 

The Concertina Museum Collection Ref:C-289.

 

Thanks again.

[wes williams]

We'd estimate English 10577 as c.1864 - so nothing unusual in terms of what you see. What spiked your curiosity?

 

Hopefully the message has got out now, but we found that a few people didn't realise that the photos display on the right of those site pages will scroll through photos related to a particular section, and clicking on a photo gives a hi-res image display.

[Andy P]

Hi I was wondering if you might be able to give me an idea of when this "Lachenal & Co" concertina was made please?

The serial number is 17861. 

I know that it belonged to my Great Grandfather who died around 1930, but I don't know if it belonged to his father or any other relatives before that. 

 

Thanks

 

Andy

[Matthew Heumann]

A Date estimate please for a 48-button, metal-end Lachenal EC #34122 (this was the serial number stamped inside in 2 places and differed greatly from the serial number previously assigned to the instrument)

Thank-you!

[wes williams]

Andy: That's an English system concertina. We'd estimate 17861 as c.1872, which is just before 'Louis Lachenal' became 'Lachenal and Co.' so if you ever open it up, let us know if you find 'Louis' or 'L & Co.' inside. Outer labels were often updated if it was returned for servicing.

 

Matt: 34122 c.1896.

[Natalie]

 

Hello, decades ago, I picked up a Lachenal and Co., concertina just because I liked the look of it. It appears to be a 48 button Concertina (24 metal buttons each end with slightly different configurations). The bellows have five folds. 

 

It’s in pretty much the same condition as when I bought it. The two ends are not attached so I have the serial number 42415.

 

Does this date it to the mid 1870s or later?

 

The handles are missing. The paper is split in multiple places, but the leather tips of the bellows are intact. 
 

I am not sure if it can be repaired or is it best sold for parts to someone who knows what they’re doing? 
 

I posted this enquiry under its own title but I’ve been directed to this thread. Looking forward to your responses. 

[wes williams]

Hi Natalie,

It looks like it was a fairly good concertina in its day, and we'd estimate to have been made circa 1904. Its a standard 48 key English system concertina. The other two digit number above the number inside is a 'batch number' which was used in the factory to keep all the parts for each concertina together.

 

Its definitely repairable, but only someone with a knowledge of concertinas would be able to tell you how much needs repairing. There are quite a few capable folk in Australia, and probably in NZ too. Perhaps one of them could PM you?

[John Wild]

https://www.concertina.info/tina.faq/conc-mak.htm

 

check out this website for a list of repairers

[David Barnert]

9 hours ago, John Wild said:

https://www.concertina.info/tina.faq/conc-mak.htm

 

check out this website for a list of repairers

 

There’s a fair amount out-of-date on that page. Fabbrica Concertine, Harold Herrington, Dana Johnson...

[John Wild]

9 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

There’s a fair amount out-of-date on that page. Fabbrica Concertine, Harold Herrington, Dana Johnson...

Thanks David. i tend to agree. i have spotted some more data on the clubs page which is out of date. However, I am not aware of any other resource that pulls together so much information in one place. I am open to correction on that.