S. HABIBI badge

[rcr27]

Seen this badge a couple of times before, all in rosewood-ended english concertinas. Do we know more about it? 

[Stephen Chambers]

1 hour ago, rcr27 said:

Seen this badge a couple of times before, all in rosewood-ended english concertinas. Do we know more about it? 

 

The paper label in the oval suggests a connection to Crabb's, in Liverpool Road, London, so maybe Geoff Crabb might know something about it...

 

The timber appears to be stained mahogany, not rosewood.

[rcr27]

That one is indeed a Crabb, though most of the ones I’ve come across are actually Wheatstones from the 1930s, time at which Tel Aviv (Israel) was in the British Mandatory Palestine. Examples attached. 

 

 

Edited March 8 by rcr27

[Geoffrey Crabb]

A brief scan of my limited records revealed the following that may be of interest.

Crabb Number	Date	Description/Type	No of Keys	Made for
9167	1934	Anglo	20	Harruden
9175	1934	English.	48	Harruden
9182	1934	English .	48	Habibi
9183	1934	English.	48	Habibi
9187	1935	English.	48	Habibi & Harruden

  

Following the closure of Lachenals (1933), my father acquired some unused woodwork i.e. end boxes and bellows frames.  These were then used in the construction of new instruments, all other parts being made in the Crabb, Liverpool Road, workshop.

It seems that there was some amalgamation of Habibi & Harruden.

 

Geoff

[rcr27]

The following label was inside one of these concertinas. Not much can be found online about this repairer. 

 

 

Edited April 2 by rcr27

[Randy Stein]

From my Rabbi:

The store is long gone. Montefiore 10 is part of what is now known as The White City, the historic and central part of downtown Tel Aviv. There is a huge hotel/restaurant/business complex there.

Do you want me to see if anyone knows more about "S. Habibi?" If that was the guy's real name, he was certainly a Jew from an Arab country, as "habibi" is an Arabic word imported into Hebrew meaning, as the kids say today, "bro."

 

He is looking into more info for me.

[rcr27]

Thanks, good to know. Any bit of information about Habibi and/or the repairer would be nice to know, just out of curiosity really. 

 

 

[Randy Stein]

More from my Rabbi:

 

I am not sure how, but a clue turned up in my search history. It isn't much, but if you go to here: https://genealogyindexer.org/ and search in Israel for "S. Habibi" you will find listings for the music store in the 1932 phone book. Not much more info than that. None of my musician friends ever heard of the place, which tells me it is long gone.