Torelli & Rossini Concertina

[Daniel Hersh]

It's here on eBay. Does anyone know anything about this brand or this instrument?

[JimLucas]

It's here on eBay. Does anyone know anything about this brand or this instrument?

Torelli-Rossini is almost certainly a dealer, not the manufacturer.

 

The molded thumbscrews and rose-pattern bellows papers look like those on my amboyna Rock Chidley, and there was a Topic some time ago about such papers on Chidleys. I would assume it's a Chidley.

 

Looks in good condition on the outside. I wish there were also internal photos.

[wes williams]

It's here on eBay. Does anyone know anything about this brand or this instrument?

Torelli-Rossini is almost certainly a dealer, not the manufacturer.

 

The molded thumbscrews and rose-pattern bellows papers look like those on my amboyna Rock Chidley, and there was a Topic some time ago about such papers on Chidleys. I would assume it's a Chidley.

 

Looks in good condition on the outside. I wish there were also internal photos.

But a bit of a mystery here, Jim. If it was a straight rebadged Chidley, we'd expect the period roughly 1850-1865. But throughout this period, 516 New Oxford Street is occupied by a tailor, Henry Lillington Marshall (checked from 1848 to 1869. Edit: and to 1882). So the label address doesn't match the Chidley date period, and I can't find a Torelli or a Rossini in London commercial listings of this period. Could there be a misread?

 

Edit: New Oxford Street sets it in a specific area and pre 1890s for a number ~450 -550.

However, what about S.C.Taylor at 512 around 1850-55? See S. C. Taylor, maker?. Ring a bell, Jim?

Edited April 19, 2007 by wes williams

[JimLucas]

New Oxford Street sets it in a specific area and pre 1890s for a number ~450 -550.

However, what about S.C.Taylor at 512 around 1850-55? See S. C. Taylor, maker?. Ring a bell, Jim?

Does indeed.

 

The decorations on this instrument aren't found on the S. C. Taylor I had, but only some of them match my Chidley. It seems not unreasonable that more than one maker used the same fancy details, and even that they both got parts (such as thumbscrews and bellows papers) from the same supplier(s).

[wes williams]

.. and the more I think about it : Could "Torelli & Rossini" be an attempt to market a fashionable brand name by Taylor?

[Stephen Chambers]

As we've discussed several times, it can be very hard to say who the actual makers of many of these mid-19th century "dealer" concertinas were, and often they were produced by different combinations of "the usual suspects" - the outworkers who made components/instruments for the better-known makers.

 

I too have an amboyna Rock Chidley with that same fretwok, but I also have a Scates and a Rock Chidley (of a cheaper model) with identical ends, and I'd associate that style of bellows with Nickolds too, and so on ...

 

Anyway, I'm not at all confident that the seller has read either the maker's/dealer's name, or the address correctly. Concertina labels can be very hard to read, especially if you've no idea what they say, so I've tried to manipulate the eBay photo in an attempt to make it readable, though without success. But the shape of the name makes me wonder if it might be Rudall - Rose & C., in which case the address could be 100, New Bond Street (and the letters/words I've emphasised would correspond). The renowned flute makers were at that address in the years 1852-57, during which time the English concertina was at a peak of popularity and they were advertising themselves as manufacturers of it.

 

So I've "put my money where my mouth is" and I've bought the instrument - in the hope that it might turn out to be a "Rudall & Rose"!