Wheatstone EC. Requires saving!

[Anglogeezertoo]

At :-

HORNERS AUCTIONEERS

ACLE,

NORFOLK.

U.K.

 

Auction on 05th September 2024.

 

"Lot No. 380. 48 button, 5 fold, English concertina with leather carrying case."

 

No serial number is visible but a red fabric/leather? baffle can be seen thru the broken wooden ends.

From the pictures both the case & the concertina are in very poor condition; a starting bid of £10 is shown! and no estimate is given.

No mention is made of the reeds, or if they sound - or not.

 

The damage to the case is strange, fire or water? Perhaps fire followed by water. The bottom 1" or so of the case is badly stained on the outside and the bottom panel is stained black on the inside as if water has seeped thru. Is there water damage to the concertina?

 

Soo ... anybody out there looking for a project??

 

see here :- https://bid.horners.co.uk/auctions/9017/srho10189/lot-details/f9429369-b836-4998-814a-b1cd00d499e8#

 

Jake

 

[Stephen DOUGLASS]

Looks like water damage with a possible 'tide' mark half way up. This may have been sitting in a flooded basement for some time. Dr Frankenstein might be able to help.

[Stephen Chambers]

That "Wheatstone" is a Lachenal.

[Anglogeezertoo]

9 hours ago, Stephen Chambers said:

That "Wheatstone" is a Lachenal.

Ahh! So, not the original case then.

[conzertino]

I wouldn't save this one...

[gloscon]

Acle is on the Norfolk Broads so could this be rescued from a shipwreck.  A paraphrase of the song: 

"And he played his concertina as the ship went down."

 

Les Branchett

[SteveS]

By the look of it, it is probably not economically viable to repair.

And if it has been immersed in water, the reeds are probably finished too, so no good for spare parts.

[Paul_Hardy]

I took the risk and bought this one for £160. See https://pghardy.net/concertina/lachenal_51487/lachenal_51487.html for description and photos. It is a Lachenal - number 51487, so from 1910. The 'original' Wheatstone box that looked as if it had been flooded was not original and was a red-herring. The inside of that box showed no sign of water or heat damage, so the dire state of the outside is not explained.

 

Inside the concertina is in good condition (for an un-refurbished 114 year old instrument), that has clearly been heavily played. It has steel reeds with no rust, and having mended a couple of split internal bellows hinges, the instrument is now quite playable, fast and reasonably in tune (to 10 cents or so).

 

I will need to refine the tuning, and to replace pads, valves and thumbstraps, but after 100 years not a surprise. I think it will then be a nice box, other than the damaged fretwork at one end, which I am evaluating possibilities to restore - ideas welcomed.

 

Interesting, the concertina has 'ebony' finish - presumably ebonised pearwood veneer, rather than the expected rosewood or mahogany. One might think that it was a Model 10 Excelsior, other than it lacks the usual nickel-silver corner inlays. Do other non-inlaid Excelsiors exist?

[Paul_Hardy]

On 9/18/2024 at 10:37 PM, Paul_Hardy said:

Interesting, the concertina has 'ebony' finish - presumably ebonised pearwood veneer, rather than the expected rosewood or mahogany. One might think that it was a Model 10 Excelsior, other than it lacks the usual nickel-silver corner inlays. Do other non-inlaid Excelsiors exist?

 

Nobody answered, but I then found in passing a very similar instrument for sale from Hobgoblin - see https://hobgoblin.com/english-concertina-ebony-ends-metal-buttons, so mine is not unique. When did Lachenal start doing the Excelsior ebony-ended instruments with inlaid corners? Is there a model number or name for this ebony model without the inlay?