In need of identfication

[Paul Williams]

Please excuse my total lack of knowledge but this forum looks my best bet for an answer. Concertina arrived at my house in the UK via great-grandfather, grandmother and late father. It's got 20 buttons and the etchef name reads Schlott, German Manufacture, Union Jack. I've scoured the internet but can find nothing about who made it or the likely time of its manufacture.

[Stephen Chambers]

It was made at Klingenthal, Saxony, and the design of it is intended to make it look more "English" rather than typically German.

 

The firm was (probably) G. A. Schlott and Söhne, founded in 1909 and still trading in 1961. In their latter years they used the brand name "Galotta". The factory was still standing last time I was there, but I hear it's been demolished since.

 

 

[Paul Williams]

Thank you! I'd speculated that the 'Union Jack' name was to distance the makers from anti-German sentiment following World War 1 as family folklore is that it dates from the early 1920s. 

[Stephen Chambers]

5 hours ago, Paul Williams said:

Thank you! I'd speculated that the 'Union Jack' name was to distance the makers from anti-German sentiment following World War 1 as family folklore is that it dates from the early 1920s. 

 

That sounds quite plausible.

 

Klingenthal, in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) on the Czech border, was the epicentre for the manufacture of inexpesive free-reed instruments, starting in 1852.

 

There were at least four Schlott firms there, over the years, making harmonicas and/or accordions, whilst your concertina doesn't seem to make it clear which one of them made it, but the only other possibility might be Gustav Schlott, who was in business from 1919 up until WW2.

 

I've also found a "Union Jack" melodeon (2-stop, 10-key, 2-bass accordion) on the internet, but it's not clear which Schlott made that either.