Early Wheatstone

[chris rowe]

A new arrival, when I saw the number stamp I got really excited but then reading Paul Groff's 2003 post I now think it was a batch number, on the baffle a barely readable number is stamped. These are the first riveted reeds I have come across, I'm thinking these would be described as "small" rivets, obviously one has been replaced at some stage

[Tiposx]

Those in the photo look like replacement reed tongues from a harmonica. If they are all like that then I don't know - I haven't seen older Wheatstones with such reeds.

[wes williams]

The 21xxx number suggests something made c.1890-1895, for which there are no records. We know that Edward Chidley Senior's Wheatstone models were made with riveted reeds from c.1865 and a return to screwed reeds occurred sometime around or after his death in 1899. Fuller details are here.