Concertina appraisal

[Pat L.]

Greetings. My name is Pat. I am new to this forum and I am not a dealer. I inherited a 

Wheatstone 48 button concertina 1989 from my aunt. I suspect my grandparents brought it with them from England to the US. I am interested in getting an accurate appraisal for this instrument. It is in what I would consider overall very good condition. All of the buttons work and the bellows are in excellent condition. The case, however., is a bit tattered. According to the Wheatstone ledger it was sold in August of 1852. The serial number is 4144. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

 

l

 

 

 

 

[juris]

Hello Pat, These earlier concertinas do not seem to be selling for a lot of money in general. Only if  all the reeds respond immediately and evenly can it be considered to be in good condition. What I can tell from the ledger entry is that it was part of a lot of three for 21.0.0 hence 7 pounds each, which would seem to be medium range. I assume yours doesn't have 

metal-inlaid corner pieces, gilt ornaments on the sides of the bellows, metal buttons, etc. If so, it would probably sell for 600-1000 from a dealer. If my financial situation is sufficiently propitious, I could be a potential buyer; but better yet, you would be hard-pressed to find a better instrument to learn on. Juris

[Pat L.]

Thanks for your interest. All of the buttons immediately as you said and they are metal. I’ve included some pics as well.

All the best,

Pat

[seanc]

You could always post it for sale over that 600-1k range here, Craigslist, Facebook, reverb etc as a local only sale and have some people look at and play and make you offers. Or 

 

the thing with these are that even if in your opinion it seems ok. Somebody that really understands these may give a vastly different assessment.

 

To compound things, there are few expert repair people around and it can be a situation where the repair, or bring it up to playable, far exceed a reasonable sell price.

 

[d.elliott]

The main issue with respect to value is the type of reed that may have been fitted, back in 1852 brass tongued reeds were common place. Brass reeds are not popular today, they are not as responsive and can often break through metal fatigue. People want steel reeded instruments.

 

Your instrument at time of manufacture was of quite a good grade. It appears to have survived well and in a fully serviced and playing condition I would expect it to realise say £1,500 plus, but only if steel reeded. Probably £1,100 if brass reeded (if you are lucky). I would assume a service would have to include changing the concertina's pitch to meet modern playing standard pitch of A=440Hz, It would have been made to one of the old pitches, perhaps philharmonic pitch. Tuning is a slow, delicate and time consuming process, hence expensive. Given that the bellows are good, I would expect the service and tuning etc. to cost around £500 to 600, may be more, may be a bit less. 

 

All this is 'sight unseen' I am assuming that all reeds are present, they work, but all consumable items such pads, valves etc and much of the feltwork needs replacement. If you feel capable, gently unscrew the six peripheral bolts on one end, keep the bolts in place and lift off the end to reveal a reed pan, no need to take it out, just photograph it and post it up here so we can see what type of reed tongues or fitted and get a feel of internal condition. 

 

If the bellows need replacement than you can add another 50% to the repair cost. 

 

I hope that this helps, note I am talking the UK market, and in £GBP I don't know the US instrument market

 

[Alex West]

At this age, it may also have nickel reeds rather than steel reeds. Nickel reeds tend to be soft (as in quiet) and little can be done to make them louder (I am told).  This can affect the value as to modern tastes, they would be similar to brass reeds in performance.

 

Alex West

[Pat L.]

Thank you Alex and d. Elliott. The reeds appear to be steel or possibly nickel. Pitch is 1-2 cents below 440. All the others are as well. Negligible to these 66 year old ears.

3 minutes ago, Alex West said:

At this age, it may also have nickel reeds rather than steel reeds. Nickel reeds tend to be soft (as in quiet) and little can be done to make them louder (I am told).  This can affect the value as to modern tastes, they would be similar to brass reeds in performance.

 

Alex West

[alex_holden]

The reeds in the photo look like steel to me. If it's consistently only a couple of cents out it might have been tuned at some point in the past few decades.

 

The pads look original, and could be due for replacement.

 

The two damaged buttons in the first photo can be repaired by a reasonably skilled metalworker (e.g. a jewellery maker), by soldering new silver tops onto them.

[d.elliott]

I agree , steel reeds, but the instrument does not look it's age, and I am surprised to see a serial number hard stamped under the pad board

 

 

[symon]

3 hours ago, d.elliott said:

I agree , steel reeds, but the instrument does not look it's age, and I am surprised to see a serial number hard stamped under the pad board

 

 

I'm not. I've just got a concertina like this (in worse condition) and slightly newer (numbered in the 6000s). The number is stamped everywhere

Edited August 26 by symon

[d.elliott]

Symon,

stamping on Lachenals, yes, on Wheatstone usually no.

[symon]

6 hours ago, d.elliott said:

Symon,

stamping on Lachenals, yes, on Wheatstone usually no.

That's a fair comment. I'll take photos of my Wheatstone when I open it again - there are number stamps in all sorts of strange places that you can see because of the amount of repairs needed.

[Pat L.]

Thanks again for the valuable information. My wife actually works for a fairly high end jewelry retailer. Their repair person may be able to fix the two “topless” buttons. I’m curious as to how they got that way. Just wear I suppose? None of the other buttons show significant wear.

[alex_holden]

9 hours ago, Pat L. said:

Thanks again for the valuable information. My wife actually works for a fairly high end jewelry retailer. Their repair person may be able to fix the two “topless” buttons. I’m curious as to how they got that way. Just wear I suppose? None of the other buttons show significant wear.

 

They were bored out and capped to reduce their weight, and probably also because they could make the caps from tiny discs of thin silver sheet without the expense of making the entire button from solid silver. The caps are only soft-soldered on and it's quite common for them to fall off.

[4to5to6]

Wow!  Very nice concertina.

 

I hope you will keep it and play it.. I love the mellow but clear sound of these early steel reeded instruments.  A pleasure to play late in the evening.  Sure, it doesn’t have the long scale reeds like the newer (100 year old) Aeolas but Regondi / Blagrove / Case used them and no one today that I know of can play anywhere close to the way these gentlemen did.  I have a similar 1856 12.12 in mint condition previously owned by the Bulteel family (serial number sandwiched between a Regondi and a Blagrove purchase) that is one of my most prized instruments.

 

Looks like a very fine vintage instrument.  A work of art!

 

Condition the bellows with some sparingly use of Connolly Hide Care on the gussets and hinges so they don’t crack.

 

Wonderful!

 

700 to 2500 USD resale value depending on how it plays and level of restoration.