Jeffries, Shakespeare Or What?

[Alex West]

I've been sent this concertina to see if I want to buy it, but I'm having difficulty identifying it.

 

There are no signs of a maker's mark, although the metal ends look like a roughly executed Jeffries pattern. It seems to be a 38 key Bb/F in an old pitch. A=449 is what it measures on my meter. Some of the notes seem to be in odd positions - I haven't mapped it fully yet but there are a couple of Csharps right next to each other on the left hand draw accidental row for example. It's got raised metal ends and the buttons are all metal. The bellows are plain and are quite flexible - the inside card is quite thin. Not fully airtight but not bad, but look more like a leather cloth than full leather - they don't look as substantial as a Jeffries.

 

The pads and valves are pretty shot, but the instrument plays in tune with itself and is quite a nice tone - not very loud though. The keys are all nicely bushed but the plywood bushing board doesn't look as though it's ever had any felt in it.

 

There are no signs of a maker's mark, although the fretted ends look like a Jeffries pattern. The Vickers name is plastered all over the inside of the pad plates and there's some indication of the name of a previous owner - and what looks like a date but it's been scribbled over.

 

The reeds are a tad rusty and don't look desperately consistent - some with flat head screws and some with round heads. On some, the tongue screws are right at the edge of the metal - they look to be barely gripping

 

I've been told (by someone who hasn't seen one) that it could be a Shakespeare, but I read elsewhere that Jones and even early Crabbs didn't always have a maker's identification.

 

Can anyone help? any ideas?

 

Alex West

[martyn]

I've been sent this concertina to see if I want to buy it, but I'm having difficulty identifying it.

 

There are no signs of a maker's mark, although the metal ends look like a roughly executed Jeffries pattern. It seems to be a 38 key Bb/F in an old pitch. A=449 is what it measures on my meter. Some of the notes seem to be in odd positions - I haven't mapped it fully yet but there are a couple of Csharps right next to each other on the left hand draw accidental row for example. It's got raised metal ends and the buttons are all metal. The bellows are plain and are quite flexible - the inside card is quite thin. Not fully airtight but not bad, but look more like a leather cloth than full leather - they don't look as substantial as a Jeffries.

 

The pads and valves are pretty shot, but the instrument plays in tune with itself and is quite a nice tone - not very loud though. The keys are all nicely bushed but the plywood bushing board doesn't look as though it's ever had any felt in it.

 

There are no signs of a maker's mark, although the fretted ends look like a Jeffries pattern. The Vickers name is plastered all over the inside of the pad plates and there's some indication of the name of a previous owner - and what looks like a date but it's been scribbled over.

 

The reeds are a tad rusty and don't look desperately consistent - some with flat head screws and some with round heads. On some, the tongue screws are right at the edge of the metal - they look to be barely gripping

 

I've been told (by someone who hasn't seen one) that it could be a Shakespeare, but I read elsewhere that Jones and even early Crabbs didn't always have a maker's identification.

 

Can anyone help? any ideas?

 

Alex West

Hello Alex,

 

In my opinion it just doesn't look like a Jeffries. It is much more likely to be a Shakespeare or a Ball Beavon but I think the latter were usually stamped on the wooden frames.

 

Martyn

[martyn]

I've been sent this concertina to see if I want to buy it, but I'm having difficulty identifying it.

 

There are no signs of a maker's mark, although the metal ends look like a roughly executed Jeffries pattern. It seems to be a 38 key Bb/F in an old pitch. A=449 is what it measures on my meter. Some of the notes seem to be in odd positions - I haven't mapped it fully yet but there are a couple of Csharps right next to each other on the left hand draw accidental row for example. It's got raised metal ends and the buttons are all metal. The bellows are plain and are quite flexible - the inside card is quite thin. Not fully airtight but not bad, but look more like a leather cloth than full leather - they don't look as substantial as a Jeffries.

 

The pads and valves are pretty shot, but the instrument plays in tune with itself and is quite a nice tone - not very loud though. The keys are all nicely bushed but the plywood bushing board doesn't look as though it's ever had any felt in it.

 

There are no signs of a maker's mark, although the fretted ends look like a Jeffries pattern. The Vickers name is plastered all over the inside of the pad plates and there's some indication of the name of a previous owner - and what looks like a date but it's been scribbled over.

 

The reeds are a tad rusty and don't look desperately consistent - some with flat head screws and some with round heads. On some, the tongue screws are right at the edge of the metal - they look to be barely gripping

 

I've been told (by someone who hasn't seen one) that it could be a Shakespeare, but I read elsewhere that Jones and even early Crabbs didn't always have a maker's identification.

 

Can anyone help? any ideas?

 

Alex West

Hello Alex,

 

In my opinion it just doesn't look like a Jeffries. It is much more likely to be a Shakespeare or a Ball Beavon but I think the latter were usually stamped on the wooden frames.

 

Martyn

I forgot to ask if it has a rivetted or a hook lever action.

 

Martyn

[Alex West]

Martyn

 

Perhaps it's not clear from the photographs but it's a riveted action. There seem to be certain similarities between this fretwork and the Shakespeare English that's in the Horniman (www.horniman.ac.uk/music/music/fra_data_10_58.html), and the McCann duet that's on eBay at the moment so I'm tending towards the Shakespeare theory

 

 

Alex

[Lawrence Reeves]

I own a Shakespeare 38 key Anglo. It does have unusual layout for the c#s, but overall a very pleasant instrument. Mine has a birds and floral motif for the fretwork. It is stamped T. Shakespeare, Oakley Street.

i have been searching for a matched Bb/F for years. Mine has a metal hand rest to attach the straps,is yours metal?

 

 

Lawrence Reeves

[Alex West]

Many thanks to all those who replied both on and off forum.

 

The consensus - some of it very expert - is that it has a number of features which look like Crabb manufacture and there are certain similarities with Shakespeare. It doesn't look anything like the only Ball Beavon I've been able to see (apart from some action similarities which again could point towards a Crabb origin. I'm pretty certain it's not a Jeffries - not enough points of similarity - and it's possible it's had a few repairs - maybe even the raised fretwork ends are a remake?

 

Given that there's no positive identification, the instrument remains a mystery. I hope I gave my friend good advice and she has a fair price for it

 

Alex West