Help with ID please

[david robertson]

I recently acquired this pretty little English treble... presumably by one of the minor makers, but which one? It has delicate German silver corner inlays, and all the corners are brass bound. The bellows papers are the gold & cream "3 daisies" pattern, the reed tongues are riveted rather than clamped, and the riveted action features slotted cylindrical pivot posts. All suggestions gratefully received.

[4to5to6]

Very interesting instrument.  Did you ever find any clues to who built it?

[malcolm clapp]

I have only ever seen daisy wheel papers on Wheatstones, (I own one such), so they, or the entire bellows, may have been replaced as I can see little evidence of this concertina being of Wheatstone origin, though riveted reeds were a feature of some late C19th Wheatstone models. Brass bound corners (campaign wear, as the auctioneers call it) seem to perhaps indicate use by a member of the military, or at least of some profession where a fair amount of overseas travel in potentially hostile environments may have been involved (missionary work in tropical climes perhaps?)

 

(All just random speculation for which I will happily stand corrected....)

 

[Geoffrey Crabb]

Nickolds, Scates, Austin or Ebblewhite possibly by the action . The latter used riveted reeds in some instruments.

Fancy bellows papers were rarely done in-house and could be chosen from printers pattern books.

Just suggestions.

 

Geoff.

[4to5to6]

A photo of the reed plate would be helpful.  Does it have riveted reeds?

[Stephen Chambers]

With riveted reeds and those bellows papers you'd suspect Wheatstone's may have made those parts in the Edward Chidley snr. years, but the high-quality ends with no rebate around the edge are more old-fashioned (for the quality of them) and appear to be the work of another maker.

 

I'd suggest it's either a major rebuild that was done at Wheatstone's, or a "marriage" of parts from two concertinas. But more photos might tell another story... 

[david robertson]

Many thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I'll post a few more pics when I've got a few minutes to spare.

[david robertson]

Stephen, you're right as usual - it's a marriage. The action boxes, end covers and bellows are all stamped with the serial number 1274 The reedpans have the same number, but only in handwritten form, and they are clearly not original. From the positioning of the support blocks in the bellows, it is obvious that the original reedpans were of the tapered design, with deeper chambers for the lower notes. The replacement flat pans have been adapted by gluing on little blocks of wood, of varying thickness, which correspond to the support blocks. 

I wondered at first why whoever fitted them didn't simply build up or move the support blocks, but I suppose it would have been easier to adjust the thickness of the blocks glued to the reedpans, rather than furtling around inside the ends of the bellows. 

[Stephen Chambers]

30 minutes ago, david robertson said:

The reedpans have the same number, but only in handwritten form, and they are clearly not original. From the positioning of the support blocks in the bellows, it is obvious that the original reedpans were of the tapered design, with deeper chambers for the lower notes. The replacement flat pans have been adapted by gluing on little blocks of wood, of varying thickness, which correspond to the support blocks. 

I wondered at first why whoever fitted them didn't simply build up or move the support blocks, but I suppose it would have been easier to adjust the thickness of the blocks glued to the reedpans, rather than furtling around inside the ends of the bellows. 

 

Maybe they wanted to still be able to use the original reedpans, and their reeds too - for a different tone/pitch/key/intonation?

 

You'd sometimes find concertinas that were made with alternative reedpans for such reasons, and I have an early French accordion with additional reedpans, in two alternative keys, in a "secret" compartment beneath the instrument in its case.