Any thoughts on what this might be?

[Bill N]

This is currently listed on a local on-line auction.  The only description is "Civil War era Squeeze Box".  Maybe a bodged Lachenal?  But 11 fold bellows?

[JimR]

It looks like an Anglo concertina with a loooooong bellows.

[Tiposx]

A home brewed bitza. I supect that a spare set of bellows has been spliced into the original ones. This would be to accommodate leaks rather than fixing them.

[Daniel Hersh]

I am not sure, but the ends look a bit like the ones on lower-end Crabbs made from about the 1930s through 1950s.

[alex_holden]

8 hours ago, Daniel Hersh said:

I am not sure, but the ends look a bit like the ones on lower-end Crabbs made from about the 1930s through 1950s.

 

I disagree; the low-end Crabb end plates are simple but elegant and crisply cut, obviously the work of a skilled professional. This one has a very crude amateur feel.

[Little John]

I'm no expert, but I was under the impression South African instruments often have ten or so folds. Could that be its origin?

[Bill N]

3 hours ago, Little John said:

I'm no expert, but I was under the impression South African instruments often have ten or so folds. Could that be its origin?

I wondered about that.  I was under the impression that the "English" (i.e. not German) instruments there were all Wheatstones, but found an earlier thread here that talks about Lachenals pre-1900.  Those bellows look like original factory equipment- was Lachenal doing this sort of custom/export work?  Had the Boer style of playing evolved to the degree that there would have been a market for extended bellows? 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Bill N

[Daniel Hersh]

15 hours ago, alex_holden said:

I disagree; the low-end Crabb end plates are simple but elegant and crisply cut, obviously the work of a skilled professional. This one has a very crude amateur feel.

 Ok - I stand corrected.

[Stephen Chambers]

9 hours ago, Bill N said:

I was under the impression that the "English" (i.e. not German) instruments there were all Wheatstones, but found an earlier thread here that talks about Lachenals pre-1900.  

 

Lachenal's were probably sending them to South Africa until they closed down in 1933 (and were taken over by Wheatstone's), thereafter there was only Crabb's and Wheatstone's (on a much bigger scale) to supply the market.

 

Quote

Those bellows look like original factory equipment- was Lachenal doing this sort of custom/export work?  Had the Boer style of playing evolved to the degree that there would have been a market for extended bellows?

 The extended bellows were replacements that were made later in South Africa, the concertinas would have left their makers, in England, with only 5-, or 6-fold, bellows.

[wunks]

Whatever, whenever, where ever, crude maybe but I'd love to hear the music it's made... Lumber camps?  Whaler? Gold rush saloon?.......😀

[Sohcahtoa]

Its beautiful in a crude kinda folk-art way. I'd buy it for its decorative value at least. 

[PaddyLosty]

I like it Bill, its cool. Would look great on the mantelpiece. Doubt its a player though, obviously.