End plate designs

[chris rowe]

Hi,

can anyone tell me if a catalogue of end plate designs used by the old makers exists that can be used as an aid to identification ?

[Stephen Chambers]

Sadly, it's not that simple. There have been lots of different fretwork designs but, by themselves, they by no means tell the whole story and all other constructional elements need to be taken into account too, in attempting to identify the "maker"...

 

True, hand-cut, "fretwork" might be done by the same craftsman for numerous makers, in the exact same designs, or somebody's fretwork might be deliberately imitated because it became "fashionable" - whilst Louis Lachenal's machine-cut "fretwork" is to be found on many Wheatstone concertinas (some of which he made for them}.

 

It's a can of worms!

Edited January 20, 2021 by Stephen Chambers
Added comma

[d.elliott]

I echo Stephens comments, and I use the action pivot design as my first indicator of a specific manufacturer, this coupled with some other features like fretwork, and maybe the reed frame design, can give what is then only an educated guess.