The Klingenthal Herolds

[Natasha]

Tl:dr – No Anglo-style German concertinas were made by the Carl Gottlieb Herold. I believe they were made by his son, Reinhard Herold (or his company), and his daughter, Margarethe Herold, went on to marry into the Meinel family, which may have been the family connection that formed Meinel and Herold.

 

I’ve been doing some research on the various Herolds from Klingenthal. It started when I came across this German concertina with a sticker claiming it was made by GF Payne, but was covered with this CGH monogram. I'm sure the following information is incomplete, but I've at least managed to put together some kind of timeline based on ancestry information.

 

 

 

I’m pretty confidant CGH is the monogram of Carl Gottlob (Gottlieb) Herold, also known as Carl Georg Herold. CGH was born Jan 25, 1771 and died May 23, 1835.

 

And there’s the problem. There are quite a few anglo-style German concertinas out there with the CGH monogram, but Carl Gottlieb Herold died a year after the diatonic concertina was invented.

 

Carl Gottlieb Herold had at least two children I know of. Christiana Wihelmina Glier (formerly Herold) and Reinhard Herold.

 

Reinhard Herold was born Mar 23, 1822. I believe he must have been responsible for the Anglo-style concertinas with the CGH monogram. The concertina I have with the CGH monogram was imported by a company that was founded in 1851, so R Herold must have been using the CGH monogram at least until then.

 

There are later concertinas out there which are marked “RH sr, late CGH" so R Herold will have changed the name of the company at some point. But when?

 

Image Source: https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalogue/lot/bdb382245b66d97d775f6621de621513/0af8d24542e81eb9357e7ef448a6646f/two-day-auction-including-furniture-ceramics-antiques-col/ 

 

I can’t find a record of R Herold having a son (who was presumably also named Reinhard Herold, since this Reinhard refers to themselves as "senior"), but I do have record of a daughter, Margarethe Herold (Aug 8, 1873). Rienhard would have been 51 years old at the time, which seems very old but around the same age CGH was when Rienhard was born. Without knowing who Reinhard’s son was, I can only guess that he was born around a similar time period, which would mean the monogram CGH was used until 1870-1880, after which the company was known as either or "RH sr, late CGH".

 

Going back the Margarethe Herold for a moment, she married Karl Meinel and became Margarethe Meinel.

 

Meinel and Herold was founded in 1893 by at least one of the Herolds, and Werner Meinel. I can’t find a direct family relation between Karl Meinel and Werner Meinel, but I suspect it was this family connection that formed the company, Meinel and Herold, that later went public in the 1920s, and continued trading until the 1970s.

 

There is also a concertina which is apparently stamped "LM RH sr, late CGH". Could LM be another Meinel? Unsure.
https://www.horniman.ac.uk/object/M474-1996/

Anyhow, this is the best info I can get on the subject. If anyone wants to correct me or fill in the gaps it would be appreciated! There's also a Conrad Gustav Herold and I have no idea how they fit into all of this.  Also there's a JC Herold and Sohne that was in Klingenthal in 1901

 

Edited November 5 by Natasha

[Natasha]

Update : Found a Reinhard Herold born in Klingenthal in 1876 who might also have had a son who was called Reinhard Alfred Herold. Though the father I see listed for the 1876 Reinhard was Phillipe Herold. No direct relation to CGH or the 1822 Reinhard that I can see. It would make some sense that the 1876 Reinhard was Reinhard Herold sr, but what would be the connection to CGH? It could be the ancestry info here is flawed.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

They seemed to have great tradition for making free reed instruments in that part of the world; my first concertina was  a 20 key Anglo - proudly on its label [on the box] stating made in Kligethal. More recent or modern one from the 1980s] than the one in your information shown here.