It's A Queer World

[Clive Thorne]

Greetings all,

 

Recently offerred on E-bay:

 

Item #7365344597: Potentially nice, but currently knackered, metal ended Lachenal 30 key anglo in 'A/F' (I presume it was actually Bb/F), needing a throrough overhaul/rebuild - went for £755.

 

Item #7366917355: Fully restored and tuned metal ended Lachenal 38 key anglo in D/G (from Barleycorn). Only reached £840 - reserve not met.

 

Is it just me, or does this really seem a bit crazy? The only thing I can think is that lots of people thought (as I did) that the the 38 key would go way up beyong my budget, and thus didn't bother to bid at all.

 

Any one got any thoughts?.

 

 

By the way: The chap who bought the 30 key, 'Sweetfelons' from Canada, has apparently bought quite a few concertina's over the last few months, is he one of us?, or do we have a new collector/dealer in town?

 

 

Clive

Edited November 24, 2005 by Clive Thorne

[Chris Timson]

I don't know, but if I were interested in that 38 key Lach (as in other circumstances I might very well be) I'd be on the phone to Chris Algar right now, or more likely earlier.

 

Chris

[geoffwright]

Or are these what "normal" prices should be?

If either had the magic "J" word on them, they would have been doubled in price.

I have never been able to work out why my Jeffries M/E 39 C/G anglo is more than double the price of my Wheatstone M/E english treble, considering how many reeds and moving parts are in each.

 

p.s. the aforementioned Lach might be that "knackered" that it has ended up in A and F.

[Guest]

Perhaps someone just always wanted a mental-ended Lachanel. Having built harps kits in the past (harmonic curve/pillar already intact), there is something incredibly satifying about playing an instrument you built or restored yourself.

 

What does surprise me is the prices that are being asked for 20 button C/G Anglos, but then I'm still trying to learn the value/market, so maybe it's just me.

[wakasaobama]

By the way: The chap who bought the 30 key, 'Sweetfelons' from Canada, has apparently bought quite a few concertina's over the last few months, is he one of us?, or do we have a new collector/dealer in town?

 

Yes,he is one of you.

 

Unfortunately, I can't say his name by personal information protection of Japanese law.

[bill_mchale]

I am not sure if those prices are unreasonably low; you have to remember that price is a market driven commodity. While I am sure there is a market for those instruments, it is not where the bulk of demand is. It appears to me that the 30 button C/G is where all the action is right now. Alot of people don't like the extra weight of a 38 button instrument and of course D/G is a somewhat less common set up (Though admittedly hardly rare and probably common in Morris from what I have heard on here). Also lets not forget that with Christmas coming up lots of us have less liquid assests to spend on toys than we might have at other points in the year.

 

--

Bill

[Clive Thorne]

I am not sure if those prices are unreasonably low;

 

Bill,

 

My comment was really about the relative bids these two attracted rather than the absolute values, £775 for the 30 key 'old knacker'; £840 (only 10% more) for the fully restored 38 key. It seemed to me that either the £775 was too high, or the £840 was too low!. I was suprised that the old knacker made that much, but even more suprised that the 38 key stayed so low. Obviously Chris Algar also though the latter was worth more than £840 as well, hence it not reaching reserve.

 

 

Clive.

Edited November 25, 2005 by Clive Thorne

[bazza]

I have the same model as the e-bay Lachenal but mine had the glass buttons well 3 or 4 it had been altered to a/e Colin Dipper said that when restored it could only be used to sing with as the reeds were so thin,I think this is a point worth remembering when buying odd tuned concertinas I only paid £20 at a car boot for it but it did come in kit form. bazza

[Pete Dickey]

Just a minor contribution to the debate. It should be borne in mind that although these were both metal-ended Lachenals, they were to my recall, in fact very different instruments. The DG was just a metal-ended (I like Morgana's Freudian slip "mental-ended") version of the basic mahogany-ended anglo whist the other one was from towards the top of the Lachenal range i.e the metal end does not finish at the edge of the concertina - there is a wooden edging strip.

[Chris Timson]

When talking about the relative worth of concertinas, I personally think the price of a Jeffries at about 3 - 3.5 thousand pounds is probably about right when you consider what the equivalent new instrument fom someone like the Dippers or Suttner costs. A top flight instrument represents about a month of a maker's life. It's not surprising it's not cheap. What does surprise me is that the Jeffries name has such a gloss that comparable instruments from Wheatstone or Lachenal attract a lower price. Well, gather ye Wheatstones while ye may!

 

Chris