What is best for this poor thing?

[Theo]

I've had this sitting for a while waiting for attention.  It's in poor condition with just about every possible defect you could imagine, but is it worth trying to restore it?  Recreate it might be a better description of what is required.

 

It's a very early 26 key anglo with features of the earliest Jeffries, but no makers name anywhere that I can find.  

 

I've cleaned up one or two reeds and they sound bright and clear. Most reeds look usable, a few  on the left end are badly rusted and might need new tongues.

 

I'm interested to hear comments on suggestions on:

1 How to identify a maker

2 whether it's worth repairing

3 anything else

 

The photos don't show the warped reed pans, both are wrapped about 4mm out of flat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 12 by Theo

[David Barnert]

Interesting, but you’ve got two (different) pictures of the right action box (note the air vent key with the larger pad) and none of the left.

[Theo]

Yes I know, and there's no photos of the left reed pan. Still plenty to go on though.

[alex_holden]

Probably more of a museum piece, given how little of the original would be left by the time you'd finished rebuilding it.

[Tiposx]

Such a pity about the reeds.

You could let the market decide, but the desciption would be difficult. It could be a Jeffries, but the wording would have to be very fair on that point. If it isn't a jeffries then it might as well be a Jones or a Lachenal, value wise.

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

I don't think its really worth trying to restore it. You could always take it apart in its entirety and build a completely new one though. Sometimes its good to have an instrument where you can think "it does not matter if I break this in the course of studying it". Once I found a Lachenal anglo in a junk store which fell apart as I unbolted it, but there were so many lessons to learn from those parts!

 

Where was it stored? I haven't seen one that far gone before.

[Theo]

42 minutes ago, Jake Middleton-Metcalfe said:

Where was it stored? I haven't seen one that far gone before.

I don’t have any history.  I can guess it’s been somewhere damp for decades, a cellar perhaps?

[Alex West]

Theo

I don't think I have a smoking gun, but I have had through my hands a 26 key Crabb with similar looking bellows leather, papers and action. The levers look to be steel? "Mine" had a Crabb number inside which made it more easily identifiable.  Geoff Crabb confirmed that the papers were readily available at the time (1878) and steel levers were used to keep the cost down.    The only difference appears to be the fretwork on the LHS where the cartouche would be.  Mine had the horns as a mirror image rather than yours which are more of a Yin-Yang pattern.   One of Geoff Crabb's useful notes tells that until about 1895, the instruments which Crabb made for dealers weren't hard-stamped with the numbers - the numbers were just pencilled internally.  Maybe there's some evidence of that which doesn't show up in the photos?  Does the font of the stamping of the reed frames offer any clues?  Or the reed frame dimensions themselves?

The 20 and 26 key wooden ended Jeffries which I've seen had the "C Jeffries maker" stamp on the wooden ends (as well as typical Jeffries bellows with fancy gilding and typically Jeffries papers).

 

Is it worth restoring?  Even if you have to replace a handful of reeds, a handful of levers, repair the cracks, fix the warping, it's more than 70% original and a quality 26 key instrument is IMHO a much more satisfying starter instrument than a Chinese made 30 key hybrid.  Bellows, valves, bushings, pads are all consumables and whilst it's a bonus if the bellows are in good condition after 150+ years, it's not the end of the world to replace them.  Granted, there's a lot of work involved and it might not be commercially economic depending on how you cost your time.

 

What might it be worth at the end of restoration?  OK, it's not a Jeffries so doesn't have that premium, but if it's a CG, and can be fairly confidently identified as a Crabb or near equivalent (and playing like one), then the retail value (as a good player rather than as a museum piece) surely has to be £2,000 or more?

 

Alex West

[Theo]

Thanks Alex,  that’s more or less what I’ve been thinking.  It would be a project with some interesting challenges and the end result should be a good player, but not necessarily a profitable enterprise! 
 

the levers are all brass, and have suffered some sort of corrosion which has severely weakened them.  To be on the safe side I would replace all the levers, but the lever posts should be usable.

[Chris Ghent]

This definitely comes under 3) anything else. Its a shame about the warp but the ends have considerable charm the way they are, they tell a thousand stories, in fact they are the concertina ends from Central Casting. (My Norton Commando looks a bit like that, but underneath it works perfectly.  Oh, OK, its a Norton, it at the very least works well.) Anyway, if you can cope with the warp you could have a very atmospheric concertina.  Not everyone’s cup of tea but the right people are out there. 

Edited May 15 by Chris Ghent

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I have to say it looks, to use a good old english term, 'knackered' but I hope you succeeed in whichever project you hope to achieve [ the dust mites residing inside it  may greatly miss having a place to live though!]😊

[Fanie]

Theo, if you are not going to restore it, I would love to add it to my collection. Please let me know.

Thanks

[Matthew Heumann]

My first English was in really bad shape, but still had good ends and reeds, but still barely playable. One day in NYC, I was standing in front of Boris Matusewitch's Carnegie studio and he invited me in. He showed me several concertinas, then asked to see my "wreck" of a Lachenal. "Would you be will to sell it to me?" he asked. When I questioned why he would want it, "I've been looking for something to hand over my fireplace", was his response. Need I say more?

[Mike Acott]

Theo, if you consider selling as is please give me a shout.

Regards.

Mike