Help me demystify this old German-made Anglo in New Zealand

[LolaBoots]

I recently purchased an old 20 button anglo concertina from a seller in Auckland, NZ. I asked for background and they told me they brought it off and old guy who said it hasn't been played for 70 years. It seems very old! But it still works, and notes seem to not be horribly out of tune. I intend to do minimal restoration to try make it work a bit better, and preserve the case.

 

It seems to be a German made export, imitating a Nickolds exterior. This page has the closest example to be found (thanks to my gf for finding): http://www.concertina.com/chambers/michaelstein/

 

The fretwork is the same as item [17] & [18], and seems closest to item [18], with rosewood(?) veneer, bone key caps over wood, 5 fold green leather bellows. I can see parts of wooden arms and I think it has the same mechanism as this post: 

 

 

There are no manufactured marks on the concertina. There is something written on the bellows in ink that I cant decipher. The case however has a partially intact label! It appears to have a serial number of 1729 written in ink along with the word Concertina in an old English style font. Below printed is "Keys" with 20 written in ink, the word Organ is printed with an ink line through it. On the left is the lower half of a crest featuring 2 brick battlement towers with domes atop, and an old looking sail ship seemingly emerging from one of the towers, green foliage in foreground. Below the crest is "P B" on a ribbon graphic. photos attached! I didn't see at first, but in the blank area on the lower left is some pencil writing that I can't quite make out.

 

There may be pencil writing on the case just below the escutcheon and in the lid in ink is underlined 1101.

 

It has what seems to be typical of a lower quality German export, one solid reed plate with 10 brass reeds. They all seem in decent order and I'm hoping a clean will help. Some of the notes are a bit wheezy and harder to get sound out of. I think the bellows are in decent condition? I will definitely be fixing the straps. I will keep the broken ones for archaeological sake in the case along with info and what I've done to it. The the case hinges are broken brass seemingly from corrosion, I will replace them and try get the lock working. I'm thinking of finding a suitable varnish or lacquer to preserve/ protect the case and label, I love how old it looks!

 

This is my first 'tina ever and I was inspired by playing the game Sea of Thieves. I can see myself getting or making a 30-button one day! There is something about concertinas that I especially like and its fun trying to piece together the history with the available clues. So, please join me in the fun and hopefully we can paint a picture of its history

 

P.S I will try edit the photos of the hard to read pencil marks to try reveal them, and happy to upload more pics at request. I will try get to the mechanisms soon

[Theo]

Strictly speaking this is not a German made anglo, it is just a German concertina.  The anglo was based on the German note layout but using English construction methods, hence the name  Anglo-German which has become contracted to "Anglo"

[Mike Franch]

And here cometh the traditional warning about those old vertical hexagonal wooden cases. If you continue to use one for your concertina, lie it on it side. Storing a concertina vertically will distort the leather valves. Putting the instrument in and taking it out of vertical cases also requires special care.

 

[Stephen Chambers]

On 11/24/2023 at 9:29 AM, Theo said:

Strictly speaking this is not a German made anglo, it is just a German concertina.  The anglo was based on the German note layout but using English construction methods, hence the name  Anglo-German which has become contracted to "Anglo"

 

Though this one is of a genre that's made to look (externally) like an English-made Anglo, which was sometimes described as an "Imitation Anglo"... 

[Richard Mellish]

While we're being pedantic about terminology, it's perhaps worth pointing out that what the OP called "an old English style font" is a style that was normal for most purposes in Germany until around the time of WWII, well after it went out of fashion in most other places.

[LolaBoots]

On 11/26/2023 at 12:39 PM, Mike Franch said:

And here cometh the traditional warning about those old vertical hexagonal wooden cases. If you continue to use one for your concertina, lie it on it side. Storing a concertina vertically will distort the leather valves. Putting the instrument in and taking it out of vertical cases also requires special care.

 

 

^ Thanks for the tip!

 

22 hours ago, Stephen Chambers said:

 

Though this one is of a genre that's made to look (externally) like an English-made Anglo, which was sometimes described as an "Imitation Anglo"... 

 

^ Is this a severe enough offence to warrant a title edit..?

 

21 hours ago, Richard Mellish said:

While we're being pedantic about terminology, it's perhaps worth pointing out that what the OP called "an old English style font" is a style that was normal for most purposes in Germany until around the time of WWII, well after it went out of fashion in most other places.

 

^ That is great to know, So pre-1940 (approx)? I do wonder as it seems this kind is made for export if the box label would've been there from the factory, printed in English in Germany or if it could've been added by the retailer after export. I would love to find another instance of the graphic with "P.B" to relate it to.

 

On another note, am I correct that these cheaper exports largely went out of popularity after 1920/ 1930?

 

Thanks for the replies, I am new and excited. This is my entry point to concertinas as janky as this one may be. I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of it already! Any tips or clues about this concertina would be greatly greatly appreciated.

 

So far I gather I could be from between 1850 - 1940, narrowing this down even if its just speculation would be awesome. I'm going to make a separate post to gather advice on restoration. I've seen people say here that these aren't worth it but to me its a project I will learn from (even if it doesn't much apply to better concertinas) and will get me started playing. There is just no way I can afford a better one but I have time and tools

[wes williams]

Going only on the PB initials on the label, it might be from Paul Burkhardt & Co a Konzertina and Bandoneon maker, founded 1912 in Olbernhau, Saxony which is near the Czech Republic, not far from Chemnitz or Carlsfeld.

[Stephen Chambers]

4 hours ago, wes williams said:

Going only on the PB initials on the label, it might be from Paul Burkhardt & Co a Konzertina and Bandoneon maker, founded 1912 in Olbernhau, Saxony

 

Otherwise, the initials might have stood for Paul Brunner at Brunndöbra (Klingenthal), but both would have seemed rather late to be making concertinas in such an archaic mid-19th century style.

 

Only, looking at the crest above the initials, I felt it looked too suspiciously heraldic to be simply a trade mark, and more like a city's coat of arms - and it turned out to be so - that's the crest of the City of Bristol!

 

 

So it looks like it must be an importer's label, rather than the manufacturer's, anyway...

[malcolm clapp]

More fuel to the fire....

 

Interestingly, The Bristol Piano Company, head office in Dunedin, New Zealand, was a large chain of music shops in New Zealand from 1915 up until they closed in 1938. Branches reported to be 60 shops and agencies throughout NZ at their peak, specialising in pianos and organs, but also importing and retailing other instruments and musical paraphernalia, predominantly from German manufacturers.

 

To add further German connections, they were originally called The Dresden Piano Company, but changed the company name in 1915 for fairly obvious (and patriotic?) reasons. Founded by a David Theomin in the late 1870s, an English businessman of Prussian descent, born and educated in Bristol, UK, hence his choice of the new name. I suspect that he might have been familiar with the Bristol coat of arms, and may well have used it in some promotional manner, but I can't find any evidence to back that up, so just surmising.....

 

So P.B. could perhaps stand for Piano Bristol? Maybe a German way of expressing B.P.? Dunno.... my German grammar is poor to non-existant!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by malcolm clapp
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[Stephen Chambers]

On 11/23/2023 at 1:37 PM, LolaBoots said:

It seems to be a German made export, imitating a Nickolds exterior. This page has the closest example to be found (thanks to my gf for finding): http://www.concertina.com/chambers/michaelstein/

 

The fretwork is the same as item [17] & [18], and seems closest to item [18], with rosewood(?) veneer, bone key caps over wood, 5 fold green leather bellows. I can see parts of wooden arms and I think it has the same mechanism as this post ...

 

I'm glad to see you found my Michaelstein Conference Paper of help.

 

Quote

On the left is the lower half of a crest featuring 2 brick battlement towers with domes atop, and an old looking sail ship seemingly emerging from one of the towers, green foliage in foreground.

 

That, I've now discovered, is the crest of the City of Bristol (where Blackbeard came from), with a sailing ship passing through the water-gate of the castle.

 

[Stephen Chambers]

On 11/23/2023 at 1:37 PM, LolaBoots said:

On the left is the lower half of a crest featuring 2 brick battlement towers with domes atop, and an old looking sail ship seemingly emerging from one of the towers, green foliage in foreground. Below the crest is "P B" on a ribbon graphic. 

 

Considering the subject matter on the crest, perhaps it stood for Port of Bristol? Which was run by the Port of Bristol Authority 1848 - 1992, and look at the crest on Port of Bristol Police badges: