An odd Jeffries Lachenal English concertina?

[Ed Stander]

Hi all,

  I've a brass reeded concertina that appears to be mostly a Lachenal 48 key instrument, but lacks any internal markings and is marked externally as a Jeffries 23 Praed Street instrument.  I thought for a while that it might be a frankintina, but everything fits together so perfectly, that the fellow that repaired it says that this is unlikely.  He also noted that it was the loudest and most responsive brass reeded concertina that has passed through his shop over the years.  It is in old tuning (some 50 cents sharp).  Any thoughts of provenance?

Best - Ed

  

[wes williams]

Hi Ed,

English system concertinas from Jeffries are fairly rare. The address on the stamp (23 Praed St) sets this instrument roughly somewhere between ~1893 and 1908 (see here ). We'd be interested in why you think this is 'mostly a Lachenal'.

[Ed Stander]

Wes,

  For one thing, the gold bellows stamp is not the typical Jeffries design, but appears to be common on Lachenal concertinas.  Secondly, while Lachenal concertinas often have brass reeds, I've not been able to find any reference to Jeffries concertinas with similar reeds.  Even those rare Jeffries English concertinas that pop up at times have steel reeds.

  At least those are my observations from here...

 

[Ed Stander]

Two other pieces of the puzzle to consider:

Firstly, the concertina spent a part of its life in South Africa and might have been a special one off, perhaps to avoid rust?

Secondly, the concertina arrived in a Jeffries leather case - which doesn't mean much but does point obtusely to a Jeffries make.

Unfortunately, neither observation explains the Lachenal bellows...

Best, Ed

 

Edited October 1, 2025 by Ed Stander

[Geoff Wooff]

Those  reeds  look more likely  made of a  Phosphor Bronze  alloy , which  is an exceptionally  good  material  for  spring  making  and  was  used   for  the  reeds in  some  concertinas  destined  for  the  tropics.

 

Have  you  any  photos  of  the  insides of  the  action  boxes Ed  ?

[Ed Stander]

[Geoff Wooff]

Thanks  for  the  photos  Ed. 

That  action    does  not  look  at  all  Lachenal.

Bellows  were   generally made  at  home  by  housewives  and  this  one  looks  more  an  'English' weight  than  Jeffries Anglo.  Perhaps  the  gold  'tooling'  patern  was  a  request  of  the  purchaser ?

Interesting  instrument  with  Bronze  reeds  and  metal  ends  I'm  sure  it  sounds  very  nice.

 

  Years  ago  I  serviced  a  Wheatstone  Baritone Aeola  with  Bronze  reeds.A  good  tone  and  loud  enough.  According  to  the  owner  it  is  still well in tune  48 years  on!

[Ed Stander]

Thanks, Geoff - 

   You know, I can accept that the bellows may be a later addition, or possibly tooled to look like a Lachenal concertina, but the reeds are a real quandary. Have you, or anyone else out there, heard of a Jeffries concertina having bronze reeds? 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2025 by Ed Stander

[Geoff Wooff]

Not  heard  of  another  with  Bronze  reeds  but    the  fashion  of  'tropicalizing'  concertinas  for  use  in  harsh  climates  did  exist,  with  Brittish  missionaries  traveling  out  to  India, Ceylon  and  Africa  etc.  That  Bronze  reeded  Wheatstone  I  mentioned  above  was  ordered  new by  the  owner,  from  Australia  in  the  1920's.  

 

Most  of  us  have  seen  very  few  Jeffries'  English Concertinas ,  those  that  I  have  seen  had  steel  reeds  and  Rosewood  ends...  so,  I'm  thinking  that  your  metal ended/ Bronze  reeded  model  is  a  sensible  compromise  for  a  hard  life  in  rough  conditions.  Made  to  order ?

[Ed Stander]

Ah, Wouldn't it be grand if one could actually know how such a beast came to be?

My best guess now is that the instrument is a  Jeffries English concertina action box, subsequently coupled to a 'made to order' Lachenal reed pan and bellows, assembled for a British missionary, and destined for a tropical climate probably somewhere in Africa.

All in all, it would make for an interesting novel.

Of course, in the end, none of this really matters.  The concertina somehow made it to the 21st century in excellent condition, and is still an exceptional instrument to hear, play, and enjoy. 

Q.E.D.

Best - Ed

Edited October 3, 2025 by Ed Stander

[Ed Stander]

For the record, I may have to make a correction to the above.

  I spent the last two days looking at reeds produced by Jeffries, Lachenal, and others, and it appears that the notation stamped on the bronze reeds matches those found on Jeffries concertinas perfectly. This was particularly obvious when I compared the bronze reeds in question to those in my Jeffries Duet under magnification. 

  If true, It would appear that the bulk of the concertina is Jeffries in origin (and this includes the reeds and reed pan), with Lachenal solely implicated in the production of the bellows - if that.

  This makes me much happier, as the notion that someone would replace a set of Jeffries reeds with anything else is just wrong.

  Of course, if anyone out there in concertina land disagrees with my analysis, I'm more than happy to be corrected.

  Best - Ed

Edited October 4, 2025 by Ed Stander

[juris]

Hi Ed,  

Congratulations on such a great find. Did you test a reed to see if it's gold? Victorian 9ct gold can become very discoloured and from the photo yours might also be dirty. Thanks for sharing with us. Juris

[Stephen Chambers]

The only odd thing about it for me is that it only has 4-fold bellows, which normally you'd only find on the cheapest of concertinas - which this is clearly not. But Jeffries bellows do have deeper folds than most, so open wider.

 

Whilst the only Lachenal-like feature is the design of gold-tooling used on the bellows frames, but I long-ago discovered, from Crabb's, that gold-tooling (a very specialist operation using expensive, and delicate, gold leaf) was sent out to bookbinders to be done, and that they owned the tools - not the concertina makers - hence you will see impressions of the same tools on concertinas made by different firms...

[Ed Stander]

So...Four facts stand out in my mind concerning the Bellows:

 

1)  The bellows were typically made at home by housewives, not the concertina makers themselves.

2) English bellows are typically thinner than anglo concertina bellows

3)  The tooling to make bellows impressions were owned by bookbinders and not the concertina makers.

4)  The bellows on my instrument are 4 fold, rather than the more ubiquitous 5 fold units.

 

From these, I come up with the following two scenarios:

 

1)  Charles Jeffries, being primarily an Anglo concertina maker, outsourced the bellows to a housewife who typically produced bellows for Lachenal.  Once finished, she sent the bellows to a preferred Lachenal bookbinder for tooling.  Either that, or she use a previously tooled bellows ring in making the bellows for Jeffries.  I can't imagine Jeffries ordering a bellows with Lachenal tooling himself.

 

2)  The bellows were a later replacement due, perhaps, to damage of the original Jeffries bellows.  The new bellows may have been ordered smaller to save weight, or because the instrument didn't require the extra fold.  It was, and continues to be, a very responsive instrument, making the fifth fold superfluous.  Given the tooling on all six sides of the bellows, I doubt it was done to save money.

 

I'm of the opinion that scenario 2 is the more likely..  In fact, my guess is that Jeffries wouldn't have even considered putting a Lachenal branded bellows on one of his instruments.  At least, it doesn't seem that he did this to any other instrument I've seen on the internet or otherwise.

 

Again, I write this to be corrected.  It's been an interesting mystery and fun to boot.  Thank you all for your help, and happy squeezing!

 

  Best, Ed 

[malcolm clapp]

The OP mentions a South African connection with this instrument. I'm wondering whether some of the anomalies could have been the result of a rebuild by a repairer in that country, of whom there have been quite a few over the years. I have seen several examples with, shall we say, creative modifications undertaken by local repairers. The term "frankintina" could indeed  be applied to some of them, though no indication of quality (or lack thereof) implied. The instrument in question seems from the photos to be in amazingly good condition for one of that age. It would be interesting to know whether a rebuild was done during the OP's ownership, or earlier, perhaps in South Africa, and by whom? A little more provenance could hold the key....

[Ed Stander]

One last question -

  Has anyone ever seen a concertina with a round plug surrounding the reed pan hole (see above)?

I note that the grain of the plug is perpendicular to that of the rest of the reed pan.

  I've found very few similar examples on-line, and I'm wondering why such a device exists.

  (For the record the central hole is 20mm in diameter, and 37mm on the outside).

Edited October 6, 2025 by Ed Stander

[Greg Jowaisas]

Just back from a fishing trip and late to this dance....

Ed, put a micrometer to the reed shoes.  Many Jeffries reed shoes are noticably thicker than Lachenal or Wheatstone.  Yours have the correct shape.  If they mic out at 0.80 to 0.84 you would have good indication of Jeffries shoes.

 

I'm with Malcolm on noting the South African connection and possiblly significant modification.  The Africaners were not shy about customizing their concertinas or finding ways to keep them playing.

 

I refurbed a "Jeffries" from S. Africa that had 40% aluminum shoe Wheatstone reeds and the rest legitimate brass Jeffries (shoes).  Always an adventure!

 

Greg

Edited October 6, 2025 by Greg Jowaisas
added (shoes)

[Ed Stander]

Hi Greg -

  Thanks for that - I measured the reed shoes at 0.84 - 0.87 inches, supporting the likelihood that they are original Jeffries shoes, and most likely original bronze reeds as well. Now, if only I could figure out the Lachenalesque bellows.....

  in any case, beyond that little problem, and perhaps the wooden doughnut, there doesn't seem to have been much fiddling with the innards.

  Best, Ed.

Edited October 7, 2025 by Ed Stander