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Finding the maker of a 2nd hand instrument


larten27

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Hello again!

 

Carrying on my habit of impulse purchases I bought a 2nd hand concertina from ebay and was hoping you kind folks could help me source its birth place. I did wonder if it was just a less crappy looking Scholer but it seems...nicer than my other model even it a bit dirty.

 

I also found writing along the inside of one end frame which I will attach as well, since I couldn't really make out what it's meant to say. This feature is also absent on my scholer so I really hope it's not highly valued. (As I have already torn one end face to pieces. It would have had to happen anyway, one end face arrived missing).

 

As an update to my last post: That scholer concertina, as awful as its reputation is, has now been semi restored by yours truly including replacement buttons for a few that had been lost, new hand straps and tuned reeds. It is now ready to be a birthday present for a budding enthusiast of the free reed instrument family.

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Edited by larten27
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  • larten27 changed the title to Finding the maker of a 2nd hand instrument

If only it was so easy with antique German 20-key concertinas - and this one may be in the region of 150 years old!

 

They only very rarely identify their makers, and even then it's with a cryptic monogram, or trademark, stamped on one of the ends, and it can take a lot of work to establish whose it was.

 

Any internal pencil markings were to guide factory workers/future repairers when it came to initial assembly/later reassembly of the instrument. They're usually marked D (for Diskant = treble) in the right-hand side, and B (for Bass) in the left-hand side, whilst yours has a batch number, in German script, of 17.

 

So I can't tell you who made it, but they were very likely at Klingenthal, where the trade was centered.

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1 hour ago, Stephen Chambers said:

If only it was so easy with antique German 20-key concertinas - and this one may be in the region of 150 years old!

 

They only very rarely identify their makers, and even then it's with a cryptic monogram, or trademark, stamped on one of the ends, and it can take a lot of work to establish whose it was.

 

Any internal pencil markings were to guide factory workers/future repairers when it came to initial assembly/later reassembly of the instrument. They're usually marked D (for Diskant = treble) in the right-hand side, and B (for Bass) in the left-hand side, whilst yours has a batch number, in German script, of 17.

 

So I can't tell you who made it, but they were very likely at Klingenthal, where the trade was centered.

Thanks for your reply! If this darling really is in the region of 150 years old I feel a bit bad for what I subjected the faces to in order to remove them. It would happen in the restoration process anyway but even then, to have to destroy such history :'(.

 

I do hope I can bring this instrument back to glory from its dusty rusty self, I was amazed when I found out that nearly every reed is in tune! (Even if not all of them sound consistently) Bb/F is apparently its nature with a slightly melancholic tone that I can't quite describe.

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