Date of Jones 48 English?

[Ove]

Can I get some help identifing the manufacturing date of a Jones 48 English I just picked up on Ebay.  It is #4516, Rosewood case, ivory buttons, steel reeds. The Rosewood is a beautiful deep red with black streaks and the buttons are ivory not bone, bushed and small, about 5.2mm. Searching I haven't found anything to put me in the ballpark. I would appreciate help from more experienced heads. Some photos attached.hed.

[wes williams]

Its only a very rough guestimate but if you look here you get 1867.

[Ove]

Thanks Wes, for both for estimated year and the link. I bought it for the reeds hoping it was a Lach or Wheatstone. Only to be surprised to that it was in fact a Jones with ivory, beautiful Rosewood ends and broad steel reeds. Definitely not one of his entry level boxes. And so now instead of a box of extra parts, I’m confronted with a major restoration project, that I hadn’t planned on. I really would like to have it restored and added to my small collection.

 

Ove

[Paul_Hardy]

On 11/21/2023 at 9:13 PM, Ove said:

the buttons are ivory not bone

 

Out of interest, how do you know?

[wes williams]

42 minutes ago, Paul_Hardy said:

 

Out of interest, how do you know?

On one of the BBC Antiques programs broadcast in the last few days, one of the experts said 'bone' showed the small brown grain marks and lines many of us are familiar with, but ivory didn't.

[Ove]

Paul, nothing scientific involved. I earlier put buttons from a couple of Mahogany Lachenals under a 20 X microscope and compared it to buttons from an early Rosewood Wheatstone that was supposed to have ivory buttons. There was a big difference between the appearance of each under magnification. The Jones had that same look of a milky and more uniform texture, as the Wheatstone did.

 

Years back I compared (under magnification) some genuine ivory and faux ivory that my wife inherited. It was not so easy to tell the difference. But the difference between bone and ivory, I think is easy to tell - with enough magnification. Of course I compared the white buttons, the black stained buttons are harder to see the texture, especially on the bone. At least for me.

 

Ove

[Ove]

Thanks Wes, that helps. If I use my reading glasses I can see those brown grain lines. But even under magnification the suspected ivory has none.

 

Ove