Help and advice needed

[Dave R]

Hi, i'm Dave and i am not a concertina player. However, i find myself with a concertina, and i am looking for the best outcome for it.

 

It is a 46 metal key, 1925 Wheatstone, with its original box. All the keys work, but most reeds need attention, as it has been stored for many years. Bellows hold air.

 

You can answer off forum by PM if you feel that is best, but my questions are... Would i be best restoring it and selling on, or selling on as a project to give someone the chance to own a nice instrument? What might its current approx value be?

 

Many thanks,

 

Dave

[David Barnert]

Nice find. You may be aware that there are several different kinds of concertina that differ in the layout of the notes. The most common are English and Anglo, but yours is neither. It is a Maccann, one of several layouts referred to as “duet” concertinas because you can play melodies on either side, with the notes on the left an octave lower than those on the right.

 

Don’t try to restore it yourself. Serious damage to the instrument may result if restoration is not done by someone who knows what they are doing. What part of the world are you in? We should be able to point you to someone you can show it to.

 

Meanwhile, have a look at this web page. The page and the whole site that it is part of are maintained by Bob Gaskins, who plays the Maccann (and also invented PowerPoint and sold it to Microsoft for zillions).

[seanc]

Looks nice!

 

if it were me.. I would sell it as is. Selling as a fixer upper.  You could easily spend $2000 to have it restored only to be able to sell it for $1000..

 

I would shop to to a dealer/ restorer, button box, barley corn, Greg jowaisas, etc. probably your best bet for a quick sale.

 

making up numbers here. But you get the idea. Duet will likely be the most difficult variety to sell.

 

[Dave R]

Thanks for all the help and PM's

 

I will now place this in the for sale forum.

 

Dave

[David Barnert]

Note that it is customary to make a small donation to concertina.net if a sale is completed through this context. There’s a “Make a Donation” link near the top right corner of this page (and pretty much every page).