Info on an ELA Bandoneon

[Mandagh]

I inherited two Bandoneon from my grandfather.  Both were brought over from Germany pre WWII.  The “newer” of the two is an Arnold obtained by my grandfather around 1924.  The other is older and is an ELA.  I know they went out of business in 1910.  I was hoping someone might know a bit more about these ELA bandoneon.  Like approx how old it might be and maybe a value.  The two are going into a museum exhibit next month and the museum would like to know how much they are worth.  I can find info on the “newer” one but not the ELA.

[Mandagh]

I tried to upload a photo but it failed.  I will try again.

[Mandagh]

[saguaro_squeezer]

If you have a look at https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-bandoneon/k0 you can get an idea of what they're selling for.  They are likely Einheitsbandoneons, which was the standardized layout in Germany in the mid-20s.  If you Google 'ELA Bandoneon', you'll find a number of sites with information on Ernest Louis Arnold (ELA) and Alfred Arnold (AA).

[SteveS]

11 hours ago, Mandagh said:

The two are going into a museum exhibit next month and the museum would like to know how much they are worth.  

Argh!! museum exhibits.  Instruments should be played IMO.  ?

Edited September 16, 2019 by SteveS

[Mandagh]

I have googled ELA Bandoneon and all I got was information on the company.  I didn’t find anything on the instruments that would help me figure out how old this one is.  I find lots of information about AA Bandoneon and I’m confident in the estimate for the AA I have. I don’t see anything comparable to the ELA.  

[Mandagh]

4 hours ago, SteveS said:

Argh!! museum exhibits.  Instruments should be played IMO.  ?

 Thanks Steve but how does that help me indentify my instrument?  Btw the exhibit is temporary.  It’s honoring my grandfather.  Besides I’m not sure I’d want to play a Bandoneon that is over 100 years old very often.  It might fall apart.

[SteveS]

Here's some history about ELA bandoneons:

 

http://escuelatangoba.com/marcelosolis/history-of-tango-part-5/

 

"Heinrich Band did not make the bandoneon himself. He designed it and ordered its production from Carl F. Zimmerman."

"Ernst Louis Arnold, who bought Zimmerman’s factory, will became the most prominent bandoneon producer."
 

And here:
 

https://www.carlsfeld.com/bandoneon.html

 

"In 1854 Carl Friedrich Zimmermann and his brothers began industrial production of these instruments. In 1864, however, they emigrated to America and handed over the business to the former factory foreman Ernst-Louis Arnold. Under the name “ELA” high-quality instruments were made and exported around the world. His successors then produced under the brand name “AA”, an abbreviation of Alfred Arnold. In 1924, Arnold made the German unified bandoneon and the “Rheinische Tonlage” for export to South America."

[saguaro_squeezer]

Mandagh, ELA did not go out of business in 1910.  They made bandoneons up until and, I think, even after the war.  I have an ELA Kusserow Bandoneon that is from c1939.  You might check this site:  www.bandon.info  The text of the pictures is in German (Use Google Translate) but you'll see that the style of your ELA was common until about the late 20's and then they went to the notched corners with decorations.  

[Stephen Selby]

I paid US1,100 for my Rheinische Tonlage ELA bandoneon three years ago. It had been serviced and re-tuned. But it does not go below C in the right hand, so it's not fully Argentinian.  

[felix castro]

Hello, there is an article originally written in italian, but that it is possible to find it in spanish and engllish (this in scribd and perhaps another resource, I have it but I think that I find it outside scribd), titled "How to identify an old bandoneon", the original italian article is here

http://lavozdelbandoneon.blogspot.com/p/bandoneon-4-tassonomia.html

 

In which there is a lot information for identifying and dating an old bandoneon. 

There are photographies of the inlay , design of the "tapas de válvulas", etc. that are very useful for that.

 

I have used it a lot, as I have bought three bandoneons since the last two years, one 144 einheits bandoneon, one 110 and one 142 argentinian layout, as in bandoneons there are a lot of different models and layouts, voices, and it can be confusing if not considered these questions.

 

Félix

 

 

 

 

[olivier manoury]

Alfred Arnold, son of Ernst Luis Arnold  started his own company AA in Karlsfeld while his father went on with his one ELA in Chemnitz, the main city of Erzbegirge ( the iron mountain,caled so because of the quality of the iron extraxted in the local mine.(therefore were the steel reed instruments made there!)

http://bandonion.info/en/solo,116.htm

here some pictures of the very cute Uhlig's first konzerina

On 9/16/2019 at 3:10 PM, saguaro_squeezer said:

Mandagh, ELA did not go out of business in 1910.  They made bandoneons up until and, I think, even after the war.  I have an ELA Kusserow Bandoneon that is from c1939.  You might check this site:  www.bandon.info  The text of the pictures is in German (Use Google Translate) but you'll see that the style of your ELA was common until about the late 20's and then they went to the notched corners with decorations.  

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by olivier manoury

[Stephen Chambers]

On 4/28/2020 at 4:47 PM, olivier manoury said:

here some pictures of the very cute Uhlig's first konzerina

 

 

It's an early one, and made in Chemnitz, but I have 10-key and 20-key ones with the same "hallmark" rectangular buttons (other makers used round ones) that are signed "Pirner" internally -  "Carl Friedrich Pirner, Harmonicafabrik, Mühlenstrasse 33" appears in the Chemnitz Adressbuch (Directory) for 1855, 1857 and 1858.  There are photos of it here: An Annotated Catalogue of Historic European Free-Reed lnstruments from my Private Collection

 

Signing them inside seems to have been common with the early Chemnitz makers, I also have one signed "Höselbarth" - the early Chemnitz maker Johann Gottlieb Höselbarth.

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Stephen Chambers
Edited to correct word order.