general info about concertina

[Karen A]

My 88 year old father has a concertina that we estimate is from the late 1800s, early 1900s.  I have some pictures on my cell phone and can obtain additional information from my dad, but I'm wondering where we can go to get information regarding what it's worth, it's origin, any interesting tidbits.  We know it was purchased originally by his grandfather.  The pictures show it is a Pearl Queen.  It appears to have mother of pearl inlay on the buttons.  Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thank you so much.     Karen Adams

[Alan Day]

This is the right site for info about your Father's concertina.

Any pictures would be useful . Any recordings of it being played would be nice to hear. 

Good luck Karen

Al

[Mike Franch]

Folks on this site can point you in the right direction, but we're only the semi-right place for this kind of concertina. The Pearl Queen is a German style concertina, which is not the focus of most members of this community, but we are interested in all things concertina, and would love to know some of your family lore associated with this instrument.

[Leonard]

If you want to know what that  focus on this site is, take a look at 

But over the years there were quite some topics about instruments like yours. You can do a search here on concertina.net for "Pearl Queen".

More information about these concertinas is to be found on https://concertinamusic.com.

But as Mike said, don't go away.

Share with us the history and some pictures of this old instrument.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Leonard
Added the search option

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I must politely slightly say (mildly disagree )..and say that the net is not focussed wholly on english, or duet system.. because, of course, Anglo system is sometimes, or was often terned German concertina, and used over there also, and over here too... As it still is; so there are still quite a few on this site that play what may be termed Anglo ( German) type system. Whether two row or 30 button layout.  In fact the variety of instruments used by everyone on here is quite wide ranging.

[David Barnert]

If your father’s concertina looks more like this:

 

 

...than like any of the hexagonal or octagonal instruments in the thread referenced above (yesterday), then while there may be a few here who know something about it (although I don’t see them coming out of the woodwork), the great majority of folks here play the polygonal kind and know very little about what we would call a “Chemnitzer” concertina, ie., what you have.

 

Chemnitzers originated in Chemnitz, Germany (south of Berlin, near Leipzig and Dresden) and in the USA are most popular in the midwest, where there are many communities with German roots and yes, in that area they are likely to refer to it as a concertina rather than a Chemnitzer or Chemnitzer concertina.

 

I agree with Leonard, above, that poking around https://concertinamusic.com is more likely to put you in touch with folks who can answer your questions.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

[Fanie]

Pictures please?