Square Wheatstone, English, Ebony. On Ebay today. Is this rare?

[robert stewart]

Who else has seen the square ebony Wheatstone English that is newly listed on Ebay today?

I tried to copy the main photo, but without success. Who knows about this model?

 

be there, or be Square

 

RJ

[Richard Mellish]

Here's a link  https://tinyurl.com/2pjprdth

 

Both the dealer and the instrument appear to be genuine.

 

EDIT: I see there's another thread:

 

Edited May 7, 2024 by Richard Mellish
Added link to other thread

[Mike Acott]

There is another feature that I have not seen on a Wheatstone instrument, With 5 fold bellows I would think it is around mid 19th century,probab.ly a Baritone

[Myrtle's cook]

I recall Barleycorn had a similar [treble] concertina on their website about a year ago, labelled Roylance if I recall correctly.

[Rikki]

A little like this one only not quite as square?

 

https://www.facebook.com/concertinadoctor/posts/heres-an-interesting-concertina-a-roylance-baritone-concertina-unusually-it-has-/2865066870249215/

[gcoover]

And then there is this one from an old cnet thread in 2007:

 

 

[Myrtle's cook]

Rikki - that may well be it - memory playing tricks! And a baritone indeed.

[symon]

Here is (see next post) a postcard of the Paget Trio with a host of square concertinas. 

I don;t know anything else about them yet

 

Edited May 13 by symon

[symon]

[Little John]

Despite the caption, these look more like duets of some sort rather than 'English' concertinas as we use the term.

[David Barnert]

35 minutes ago, Little John said:

Despite the caption, these look more like duets of some sort rather than 'English' concertinas as we use the term.

 

I agree. Maybe “English” refers to the concertina experts, not the concertinas.

[Stephen Chambers]

On 5/14/2025 at 12:42 AM, Little John said:

Despite the caption, these look more like duets of some sort rather than 'English' concertinas as we use the term.

 

The epiphet "English" was only added to the name of Wheatstone's concertina after cheap German concertinas started to become available in Britain in the 1840s, in order to differentiate between the two types. But, later in the 19th century, John Hill Maccann, in his 1884 Patent, described his new model as "The Improved Chromatic Duet English Concertina" and John Butterworth, in his 1893 Patent, described his instrument (that was to become known as the Crane duet) as an "Improvement in the Key Arrangement of English Concertinas."

 

Whilst in South Africa you'd find they refer to a Wheatstone Anglo as an "English Concertina / Engelse Konsertina" because it was made in England, not Germany...

[Stephen Chambers]

1 minute ago, Stephen Chambers said:

Whilst in South Africa you'd find they refer to a Wheatstone Anglo as an "English Concertina / Engelse Konsertina" because it was made in England, not Germany...

 

Likewise in Ireland, by the old players in days gone-by - I knew an elderly player in Kilrush,20 years ago, who played a German concertina, instead of what he termed an "English concertina" - because he found the latter sounded too harsh to his ears...

[aeolina]

There is a photo of such a square English from a European museum collection in one of my books - if only I could find it! I think it is a small square book on free reed instruments bought in Germany or Italy.

 

Stuart

[Stephen Chambers]

2 hours ago, aeolina said:

There is a photo of such a square English from a European museum collection in one of my books - if only I could find it! I think it is a small square book on free reed instruments bought in Germany or Italy.

 

Stuart

 

That'd be this one then Stuart! I have a copy of it too, but it's not here with me...

[aeolina]

Essato!! I hope to remember to pack the Grok book before heading to Ireland soon whereupon I'll put it in the post to you.

[Geoffrey Crabb]

Might be of  interest

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/magpielane/49951880342/