I've Just Acquired Three Concertinas

[harryandoval]

I'm not a player, but this past week acquired 3 vintage concertinas. I'm a buyer and seller of estate items and have an eye for quality. My personal favorite is from H. Crabb, Second choice is a nice Lachemal, third is an old Wheatstone Bass or baritone/tenor concertina, not sure which. All three of these instruments came with some documentation showing time of purchase and repairs. They all work splendidly! It's important to me that these instruments be in the hands of players. As you can tell I need to know more than I have been able to find from other sources

 

My wife and I sell on Ebay. I know from reading some of the forum posts that ebay is considered by some to be a questionable place to buy a concertina. I also read that it's a great source of old instruments. My personal experiences lead me to believe it works.

 

I know that I bought three concertinas, but can't tell you or, more importantly, those who will look at my auction on ebay what model or year of production or, most importantly, condition.

What I can say is, "I have pushed all the buttons on the three and they all work". I think that any one of the three deserves better.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Harry,

The two concertinas pictured look like quality instruments. It would be nice to see a picture or two of the Lachenal as well.

 

Ebay may afford the largest pool of potential bidders but if you are really interested in seeing these instruments in the hands of players, why not use the buy and sell section of concertina.net? Then you would have a bit of control over placing an instrument in the hands of a player; the commision would be less than an ebay fee; concertina.net would benefit from your small donation.

 

As to specific comments about the instruments: It would be helpful to know the range of notes of each instrument and their exterior measurements. The Crabb could be an extended treble or tenor treble or depending on size and range even a baritone tenor. The Wheatstone might be a bass or baritone tenor.

(It would be nice to see a closeup pic of the interior action mechanism.) It would also be good to know if the instrument was single or double action, that is, if it plays notes in both bellows directions or just on the squeeze.

 

Playing condition is a componant of price and while the two instruments pictured look to be in good shape it would be helpful if a player or dealer would verify their playing fettle. Whether the instruments are in standard pitch or not is important to a prospective buyer.

 

You do have a good eye for quality and I'm sure there will be interest among cnet members concerning these concertinas. Do send Paul Schwartz, the creator of concertina.net a donation if you are successful in selling to one of us.

 

Greg

[Chris Timson]

Ebay may afford the largest pool of potential bidders but if you are really interested in seeing these instruments in the hands of players, why not use the buy and sell section of concertina.net? Then you would have a bit of control over placing an instrument in the hands of a player; the commision would be less than an ebay fee; concertina.net would benefit from your small donation.

I'd like to back this up with my own experience. Although I do a lot of buying and selling through eBay, the four concertinas I have sold though the years, ranging from fairly low end Lachenal to very high end indeed Dickinson/Wheatstone, I have chosen to sell through concertina.net. The process takes longer, but is much more friendly and much cheaper in fees.

 

I suggest you find a local concertina player (perhaps via the forum) to play the concertinas and give you some background and feel for the condition and appropriate price. Record him/her playing. Then put together a web page and link to it from your forum posting.

 

Best of luck,

 

Chris

[david robertson]

I'm not a player, but this past week acquired 3 vintage concertinas. I'm a buyer and seller of estate items and have an eye for quality. My personal favorite is from H. Crabb, Second choice is a nice Lachemal, third is an old Wheatstone Bass or baritone/tenor concertina, not sure which. All three of these instruments came with some documentation showing time of purchase and repairs. They all work splendidly! It's important to me that these instruments be in the hands of players. As you can tell I need to know more than I have been able to find from other sources

 

My wife and I sell on Ebay. I know from reading some of the forum posts that ebay is considered by some to be a questionable place to buy a concertina. I also read that it's a great source of old instruments. My personal experiences lead me to believe it works.

 

I know that I bought three concertinas, but can't tell you or, more importantly, those who will look at my auction on ebay what model or year of production or, most importantly, condition.

What I can say is, "I have pushed all the buttons on the three and they all work". I think that any one of the three deserves better.

 

If you have the original purchase documents, it would be great if you could share the dates with us too - being able to associate serial numbers with verified dates helps a lot with dating in general.

[Geoffrey Crabb]

Concerning the Crabb, ID Number 18335, it is a standard Octagonal 56 Tenor (Tenor/Treble) and from the records, made September 1971.

 

Please remember there is no formula for dating Crabb instruments. If you have an ID number, I can, hopefully, date the instrument.

 

Geoff Crabb

[harryandoval]

Concerning the Crabb, ID Number 18335, it is a standard Octagonal 56 Tenor (Tenor/Treble) and from the records, made September 1971.

 

Please remember there is no formula for dating Crabb instruments. If you have an ID number, I can, hopefully, date the instrument.

 

Geoff Crabb

Hello, Mr. Crabb,

Excuse me for the length of time it has taken for my reply. I have no idea if the serial number and the ID number are different. I do have some correspondence and will attach scans of same. Thank you for your interest. It is a pleasure to be in contact with a member of this illustrious family.

Respectfully,

Chester Welch

Edited November 27, 2007 by harryandoval

[harryandoval]

Harry,

The two concertinas pictured look like quality instruments. It would be nice to see a picture or two of the Lachenal as well.

 

Ebay may afford the largest pool of potential bidders but if you are really interested in seeing these instruments in the hands of players, why not use the buy and sell section of concertina.net? Then you would have a bit of control over placing an instrument in the hands of a player; the commision would be less than an ebay fee; concertina.net would benefit from your small donation.

 

As to specific comments about the instruments: It would be helpful to know the range of notes of each instrument and their exterior measurements. The Crabb could be an extended treble or tenor treble or depending on size and range even a baritone tenor. The Wheatstone might be a bass or baritone tenor.

(It would be nice to see a closeup pic of the interior action mechanism.) It would also be good to know if the instrument was single or double action, that is, if it plays notes in both bellows directions or just on the squeeze.

 

Playing condition is a componant of price and while the two instruments pictured look to be in good shape it would be helpful if a player or dealer would verify their playing fettle. Whether the instruments are in standard pitch or not is important to a prospective buyer.

 

You do have a good eye for quality and I'm sure there will be interest among cnet members concerning these concertinas. Do send Paul Schwartz, the creator of concertina.net a donation if you are successful in selling to one of us.

 

Thank you.

 

Greg

[Dirge]

And you've a Crane system duet there, so that's another interesting one. How many buttons?

[spindizzy]

And you've a Crane system duet there, so that's another interesting one. How many buttons?

 

Maybe that's the Triumph system duet (aka Crane) that's mentioned in the letter to Crabb

[Ivan Viehoff]

And you've a Crane system duet there, so that's another interesting one. How many buttons?

Well assuming there isn't something odd with the hand-straps, then that's the right hand end we are looking at and it has 25 buttons on that end. So that would generally imply it has 42 buttons in total. Probably a rather basic instrument, then.

[harryandoval]

And you've a Crane system duet there, so that's another interesting one. How many buttons?

Well assuming there isn't something odd with the hand-straps, then that's the right hand end we are looking at and it has 25 buttons on that end. So that would generally imply it has 42 buttons in total. Probably a rather basic instrument, then.

 

 

You are correct .....42 buttons. I've taken the largish pics off and am replacing them with smaller ones so that I can also Post more pictures of the correspondence.

[harryandoval]

Concerning the Crabb, ID Number 18335, it is a standard Octagonal 56 Tenor (Tenor/Treble) and from the records, made September 1971.

 

Please remember there is no formula for dating Crabb instruments. If you have an ID number, I can, hopefully, date the instrument.

 

Geoff Crabb