Help identify and date

[Melnic]

Hi all

 

My father asked me to help him get more info on this concertina. He bought it from a secondhand shop 40 years ago. I can't find the model number in the wheatstone ledgers 

 

He always wanted to learn how to play but life happened and due to the toll his job took on his hands he isn't able to play/learn anymore and is looking to sell.

 

Any info would be hugely appreciated

 

 

 

[Theo]

It is a Wheatstone Aeola 56 key English concertina made in the 1890s,   The bellows have an unusually large number of folds, from the factory this model would usually have 5 or 6 folds.  The thumbstraps are not original and it will need some maintenance to put it in good plains order, but it is a very desirable concertina and worth a four figure sum.

[Melnic]

Thank you very much, wow.

 

All the buttons work and it still sounds great. I was wondering about the folds, couldn't find any that matched. This is very interesting.

 

If he sells it as is, would it be a big difference in value? It's really a beautiful instrument and letting it ago for less than it's worth would be a shame. 

 

And to pick your brain, or anyone else's, where would be the best place to sell it, here or eBay? Estimated worth maybe?

 

Thank you for your time. This is really helpful

 

Mel

 

[Theo]

Definitely not ebay.  You can offer it for sale here, but get it appraised by an experienced concertina repairer first.  If you give your approximate location we can point you to suitable people.

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Theo

[Stephen Chambers]

15 hours ago, Theo said:

It is a Wheatstone Aeola 56 key English concertina made in the 1890s,   and it will need some maintenance to put it in good plains order, but it is a very desirable concertina and worth a four figure sum.

 

It's most unfortunate that the Wheatstone ledgers for 1891-1910 are missing (presumably burned in Boosey & Hawkes' bonfire), but the best information we have for the introduction of the octagonal Aeola is that (to quote from my Joseph Astley, Oldham Concertina Band and the MHJ Shield article [footnote 37])

 

" ‘The Aeola, in its present [octagonal] form, was produced by my father [Edward Chidley] in about 1902’, according to ‘remarks. . .received from our Technical Advisor, Mr. K. V. Chidley’ (Production Manager of concertina makers C. Wheatstone & Co.), in Accordion Review, 4/6 (1949), 21."

 

I'd suggest a date of c.1904 might be nearer the mark for this one.

 

Quote

The bellows have an unusually large number of folds, from the factory this model would usually have 5 or 6 folds.  The thumbstraps are not original ...

 

Five-fold bellows were the norm at the time, and I'd strongly suspect that they too have been replaced - whilst most players/potential buyers would probably find ten-fold ones unmanageable. 

[Melnic]

Stephan, that is super interesting. Thank you so much! Maybe the ten folds got something to do with a crazy Boere Musiek musician. 

 

Theo I live in Western Cape, an hour or so north of Cape Town in South Africa. 

 

Thanks for all you guy's help. Much appreciated! 

[Stephen Chambers]

4 hours ago, Melnic said:

Stephan, that is super interesting. Thank you so much! Maybe the ten folds got something to do with a crazy Boere Musiek musician. 

 

Theo I live in Western Cape, an hour or so north of Cape Town in South Africa. 

 

That would explain it then, I'm well-used-to seeing 10-fold replacement bellows on post-war Wheatstone Anglos from South Africa - which are also much too long for players here in Ireland.