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Sticking My Neck Out


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Oh, I've got a little concertina player too.

 

http://www.brightfield.org.uk/art/metalman.jpg

 

Well, actually its probably a bandoneon isn't it. I think its made out of brass, sprayed with black paint which has been rubbed down to reveal the brass highlights.

 

In the spirit of squeezebox anyway and he stands in the room I practice in.

 

Tom

Edited by brightfield
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Hello Henrik

 

A truly fabulous collection; but I'm interested in the matchstick. Was it the same one throughout? Also, and I hate to tell you this, but there is fellow collector and I think she may have a larger collection. Jenny Cox has been collecting concertina stuff especially tasteful figurines such as yours for many years now, but the current piece de resistance seen last Sunday was a video of Spot the Dog's Granddad playing either anglo or duet in a cartoon. Spot the Dog is very popular with the under-fives in Britain and the section was spotted by one of Jenny and Peters' grandchildren. I can't remember what tune Granddad was playing but Nick Oliver may remember if you're eager to know!

 

Regards, Jill

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Hello Henrik

 

A truly fabulous collection; but I'm interested in the matchstick.  Was it the same one throughout?  Also, and I hate to tell you this, but there is fellow collector and I think she may have a larger collection.

Hi, Jill -

 

Huh, the matchstick - no, not the same. The photo session took so long that the first one wore out.

 

It is great to hear than there may be an even larger collection in existence! I never started it with any determination of "Let's make the largest concertina figurine collection in the world" - it just sort of grew, mainly because I was given figures at regular intervals by the family. After some years I started to wonder about how many variations I could find - it seemed endless. That's the fascinating part.

 

Now this sounds really silly, but putting them on the web actually makes them easier to study, because the glass cupboard where they live isn't big enough, and they are stepping at each other's toes.

 

Best regards,

Henrik

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I have several dozen squeezebox figurines too. What I don't have is Henrik's ability to put them up as he did.

 

Most of my collection appear to be square in shape, Herrington/bandoneon/chemnitzer style, only a few being distinctly 6 or 8 sided. Some are almost round. I have had some of the square ones described to me as looking more like a loaf of bread rather than a squeezebox, and I did more or less decide a while back that I shall only collect those where the instrument looks fairly realistic, but people keep giving them to me....

 

However a few of my favourite and more realistic-looking concertina friends attached...

 

post-121-1109500249_thumb.jpgpost-121-1109500268_thumb.jpgpost-121-1109500287_thumb.jpg

Edited by malcolm clapp
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...and I did more or less decide a while back that I shall only collect those where the instrument looks fairly realistic, but people keep giving them to me....

G'day, Malcolm -

 

Now, that's what I call a fine frog! All three proves to me, again, that there is no end to this! I understand your moral dilemma about the shape - there was a time when I thought that I would be really strict with shape: only hex or oct. This was mainly due to lack of space. I hadn't even given a thought to chemnitzers or bandoneons, not to mention the Texan boxes. I even got rid of a figurine because of that (shuddering at the thought). I think Jim has one on his old photo, if I recall correctly.

 

But I gave in - like you, I kept getting them, and now I have set the criteria to the fingering: if there is any trace of keyboard with piano keys or buttons, it's accordion/melodeon, and I refrain.

 

Henrik

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...now I have set the criteria to the fingering: if there is any trace of keyboard with piano keys or buttons, it's accordion/melodeon, and I refrain.

Couldn't you just keep those separate, on a lower shelf?

(Good thing I'm not within striking distance of Helen. ;))

 

Ah, but I do! Well a different shelf anyway!

 

I have no objection to the figurine's "instrument" being a piano accordion or a melodeon, it is that generic "loaf of bread" look that I find unappealing, and with no keyboard or buttons of any description. These I try to avoid. :-)

 

Regards,

Malcolm

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Great collection, Henrik!

 

Thanks, Jeff -

 

And of course you are right - they are mice (to mistake a mouse for a cat, come on...). Mice have their own category, now - hence the missing images in you post. And the sheep has been properly named in "Various animals".

 

Fine web site you have. Since you are into bones you may have come across this man: Yirdy Machar. Scottish by birth, but has lived in Denmark more than 25 years (at least that is the number of years I have known him).

 

Henrik

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