Have The Dealers Got Them All?

[d.elliott]

I have often wondered if there are any more un-discovered concertinas, singly or in small family groups left hiding out in thier native habitat, in cupbords, attics, the backs of wardrobes or even in the living room where they can be fetched out and played at will. Timid little creatures as they are, or are they purely nocturnal to avoid dealer preditors....

 

Or have they all been hoovered up by dealers, lured by those adverts in the local press 'wanted concertina for player, cash paid' etc etc. Then deported to the colonies or Ireland (without fair trial).

 

Well, and it gladdened my heart immeasurably, a phone call was received last night,

 

'My name is XXXX, I live in Lincoln, I am 81 years old now but I used to live in your village, my father, uncle and brother and I used to play turns in the area and it was on English concertinas.............. We (and I am 81 you know) still have Baritione, trebles, Wheatstone & Lachenal, still played, .........old pitch..........need some repairs.......etc etc etc, ..... My father once adjusted the tuning on one of them it took him three months to finish the job, but there are electric things now.......

 

I really enjoyed this phone call, I hope as much as the Gentleman concerned appeared to. I am so looking forward to meeting him and his family to find out more about the music, where and what they played, and where in my little village of Oughtibridge he lived and performed.

 

Yes, a surving whole colony of concertinas, in native habitat, being played in a family group, but are there others? how have they adapted to the new environment? What are they being fed on, do we need to set up special reservations? or will they end up being stuffed and displayed in glass cabinets in the Horniman?

 

Dave

[JimLucas]

Clearly, many do still exist, and of course we would all like to know where they are. In the last couple of years we've seen the appearance -- on eBay and elsewhere -- of some previously unknown early and even very early instruments (including, e.g., Wheatstone #98, a Wheatstone double, a pinhole Æola in France,...). Dealers and others come across them now and again, at auctions, estate sales, through private contacts, even occasionally at flea markets.

 

It's not all rediscovering instruments that were "in circulation" 2, 10, or 20 years ago. Some are in poor shape, some in excellent shape. Some are known within groups that you and I could have contacts with, but normally don't, e.g., the array of instruments that Ken Coles reported seeing at Pinewoods Camp, or those owned by former students of Boris Matusewitch in New York City.

 

But part of my hope that more will turn up -- some even being played in private settings -- lies in the published Wheatstone ledgers. Wheatstone apparently made more than 35,000 instruments (a number of ledger entries are marked "second hand", so maybe it's only 30,000? still plenty), while Lachenal produced about 200,000 anglos alone. A great many of these were not only objects of great beauty, but also obviously objects of great value, if only from the perspective of artistic beauty and rare materials (amboyna, tortoise shell, gold plate). Far more were made than I think we (the collective members of Concertina.net and our friends) have evidence of today. I simply cannot believe that the majority of these missing instruments have been discarded as trash.

 

And so I continue to keep my eyes peeled.

[d.elliott]

Jim,

I am sure that your right, that some still are out there, but if most were sold to individuals and groups in the UK and given the intensity of the gathering campaigns that are run from time to time, and the fact that very few that seem to turn up in junk shops, antique fairs and house clearance auctions I suspect that the well is starting to run dry.

 

The phone call I relate to is particularly unique because this family has retained and continued to play its instruments over the lifetime of the gentleman who contacted me. I find this quite refreshing, and all the more so that he lived in my own village.

 

Dave

[JimLucas]

...if most were sold to individuals and groups in the UK...

Ah, but what sort of "most"? 99%? 90% 75%. From the instruments I've seen in America and what's been reported from Oz and NZ, I wonder if more may have migrated than you think, even of those purchased in the UK. I'm sure the British Empire is partly responsible.

 

There's the group that Grey Larson turned up in a music shop in Cincinnati, Ohio that had been there for decades. I've heard of another stash like that, but the owner isn't interested in either selling or being known. There's no reason why others should all appear now, just because we're looking for them.

 

There seems to be very little communication with the European continent, yet many excellent instruments have apparently been in Germany, France, Sweden, etc. since they were first made. They didn't all come via the Salvation Army, either, though you should consider its impact as an international distribution network. I don't think those countries have been properly dredged.

 

...and given the intensity of the gathering campaigns that are run from time to time,...

Many people don't respond to such campaigns, not even when contacted through their local club. (I think Neil Wayne once said he got some of his best leads by advertising in the Pigeon Fanciers' Journal.) Some don't bother or don't get around to it (I really must remember to send in my membership application to the American Procrastinators' Association one of these days!), and some may actively avoid responding.

 

...and the fact that very few that seem to turn up in junk shops, antique fairs and house clearance auctions I suspect that the well is starting to run dry.

Obviously not the well of those who are still playing, if such exists. And I think it does. I'm continually running into people who say they have friends or relatives who play concertina, but those friends or relatives are not connected to all the other concertina players in their area. For several years my sister neglected to mention to me a friend of hers who plays English, even though she knows my fanaticism. Or... I met a girl at a contra dance, who told me that her accordion teacher plays concertina, but two other concertina players who live in the same town don't know who she meant. And so it goes.

 

In the 1970's and 1980's I discovered a number of individuals (at least a dozen), each of whom had thought they were the only concertina player in all of North America. I suspect there are still more than a few like that. And not everyone who plays is desperate to contact anyone and everyone else who plays.

 

As for house clearances, antique shops, and the like -- or even your "gathering campaigns, -- not everyone who has something like that wants to get rid of it, even if they don't play. Nor do they want to be pestered by folks who want them to. As an American, it's absolutely amazing to read every so often of ancient art objects, religious artifacts, or the like (e.g, a scroll from Moorish Spain) being discovered in the possession of some ordinary European family... not just things long-buried in attics, but objects in daily "use", but which the owners either didn't know or didn't care enough to make a big deal of. How much easier for that to happen with something as lovely but "ordinary" as a concertina.

 

The phone call I relate to is particularly unique because this family has retained and continued to play its instruments over the lifetime of the gentleman who contacted me. I find this quite refreshing, and all the more so that he lived in my own village.

In fact, I think this demonstrates my point. Why did they not contact you -- or someone else -- 20 years ago? How is it that you didn't hear about them through some other source? Yet if they never had, that group would still have existed. And if the playing is continuing through current generations, they may still be at it -- with the same instruments -- 50 years from now. Surely you can't know that there are no others. Based on human nature, I'm sure there are.

 

Of course, I don't expect to find them all, or even base a business on finding some of them. What I do expect is that there's a lot more to the concertina universe than the limited "network" which includes those of us communicating here on Concertina.net.

[Guest]

What I do expect is that there's a lot more to the concertina universe than the limited "network" which includes those of us communicating here on Concertina.net.

 

I think for those of us who for whom the internet has become a daily part of the way we communicate, it is easy to forget that the rest of the world isn't as "plugged in" as we are

 

I agree that based on the sheer number of concertinas produced in the past, some must be out there somewhere. There are many possible scenarios of the fate of these concertinas.

 

Some would have been disgarded due to breakdown, accident or just worn out.

Some would have been disdgarded because their value was unknown.

But I also think that there are some out there, perhaps who are not being played, but are valued because they once belonged to a much loved family member or ancestor.

 

Then there are those that belong to musuems or are in the hands of private collectors.

 

But best of all are those that are loved, cherished, and played regularly.

 

d.elliot: thank you for sharing your wonderful phone call. Please keep us up to date on how it goes

 

Morgana

[sourdoh]

Being new to the concertina myself and very happy over finally getting an instrument, I was telling several people at work about it. It turned out one of the people I work with has a 28 key Lachenal Anglo that had belonged to his grandfather. He didn't know much about it, had played around with it as a child but now it was just stored away. I gave him some of the information I had gathered from this wonderful forum. Since he will be passing through their neighborhood this spring I gave him the address of The Button Box. He plans to stop in and see what is needed to get the instrument back into playing condition.

 

Hopefully he can get one of his grandkids interested and the concertina can come out of storage and sing for people again.

[grumpyhermit]

I think that too much focus is being spent on Great Britain and the US. There is a huge world out there that doesn't speak English, yet the concertina travelled to those places, as well. Are there a few concertinas down in the wreckage of the Titanic and other shipwrecks? I'd be willing to bet that there are. How about South Africa, Singapore and the other far reaches of the British Empire? Bound to be some out there somewhere. Some in South America, maybe, brought and traded by sailors? I'd say that there is a good chance that there are. Has anyone heard accordion music from Arab countries? I have, and I imagine that they have a few concertinas in the souks and bazaars throughout the Arab world.

 

Having said that, the concertina is a comparatively fragile and finicky instrument, with far more things to go wrong with it than a violin or guitar. Probably a lot of them have ended up on the junk heap when the bellows cracked and broke, or buttons stuck, or reeds becamed clogged with dust or simply rusted away. I just don't think that there are as many out there as the old ledgers may suggest; nowhere near as many.

 

Bob

[Samantha]

But I also think that there are some out there, perhaps who are not being played, but are valued because they once belonged to a much loved family member or ancestor.

I discovered one of these recently, when talking to a member of a brass band with which I am associated. He sparkled when I mentioned "concertina" and said he had his great grandpa's at home. He wanted to know more about his own instrument, but said he didn't want to sell it, as it is a cherished bit of family history. I am working on getting him interested in playing it!

Samantha

[RustyBits]

After I had been playing for about a year my aunt told me that my Great Grandmother used to play. I was floored!

 

She died 4 years before I was born and no one knows what happend to her instrument. Maybe it's still out there hiding in a cupboard somewhere. She had 12 children so it could have ended up almost anywhere.

 

It's kind of nice to know the concertina is "in my blood" though!

[Robin Madge]

There are many "occasional" concertina players around who are perhaps at a learning stage on the instrument or to whom the concertina is a second, third, fourth... intrument, and there are others who will play it when they get round to it, but I suspect that few of them will manage to remember to access this site however much i enthuse about it.

I know of six concertina players in Lancaster besides myself and my wife, only two of which are confident to play in a session, and as far as I know none of whom have visited this site, despite my efforts!

 

Robin Madge

[peterhurst]

I can with all honesty say that there are still plenty of Concertinas out there. I live in an area where the Concertina was extremely popular and there were lots of Concertina bands. I personally know of at least 10 concertinas sat in individuals houses, not being played but cherished as family heirlooms, and all these within 500 meters of where I live. This leads me to a story about being sentimental about instruments.

 

A few years ago I was working with a local man, I mentioned that I played the concertina as I knew that he played in the local brass band. He told me that his Aunt had a concertina that had belonged to her dead husband who had recently passed away, but she would never part with it, as it was of great sentimental value, I took him at his word and never pursued the matter. six months later I was working with this guy again, and I could not resist asking him about the concertina, after much discussion I finally got the ladies address which was quite close to where I live. That evening I went and knocked on the old ladies door and asked her about the concertina, she replied,. THAT OLD THING. I LISTENED TO THAT BOX EVERY DAY FOR YEARS AND HATED IT, THE WEEK AFTER MY HUSBAND DIED, I THREW IT IN THE RUBBISH BIN AND WAS GLAD TO BE RID OF IT.

 

Sentiment I dont think so, if you hear of a concertina chase it up, you never know.

[Tom Ryan]

Just today I encountered a concertina in the wild (since I live in Northern Ontario, it's almost literally in the wild!), here in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

 

I play the English concertina (56-key Wheastone Aeola tenor-treble), and a while back, while playing at a dance, I was approached by a gentleman who said he had a concertina just like mine. I went over to see him today, and his box turns out to be a beautiful old 64-key Wheatstone English, #28643, made in 1920. It has black wooden ends

 

The concertina belonged to this gentleman's father-in-law, a Scot who had emigrated to Canada earlier in the 20th Century. He died in 1979, and the box has not been played since. I was privileged to play it today, and it sounds lovely. The bellows are in very good condition, seemingly without leaks, and the tone of most of the notes is really nice, though I couldn't get some of the highest notes to sound. They are really high. Presumably that's where the extra keys are added.

 

Since he does not have internet, I offered to help him with some questions he had about the box, and I'll add a couple of my own. (I realize some of these questions might be better put in other forums, but one post makes my life easier).

 

The metal lever under the right thumb to work the air valve has broken off flush with the fretwork. Is there someone who can supply a replacement? The spring for this valve has also gone, since it won't spring back up.

 

The owner does not wish to sell the instrument, but I suggested he insure it separately on his house insurance. However, neither he nor I has a clear idea of its worth. I realize that logically it's worth what the market will pay for it, but if anyone has a ball park figure to suggest for insurance , can you help? Again, I'm aware that you have not seen it to assess condition, etc, but to my eye,hands, and ear, it is in good condition, though maybe in need of some work on springs, valve leathers, etc.

It also needs some new thumbstraps since the existing ones, while intact, have hardened and were quite uncomfortable while I played the box.

 

My own questions are first, what does the number 19A signify in the Dickinson ledger entry for this concertina? Is it a model number for 64-key concertinas?

 

Secondly, inside the lid of the box, also original and in quite good condition, there were two labels, one for Wheatstone, the other for a dealer. The dealer was J.J. Vickers, Dealer and Repairer of Concertinas. Sole Agent Italian Accordions, 83 Royal Hill, Greenwich, London, SE. I'm just curious to know if this was a well-known dealer.

 

The owner is retired, and I encouraged him to learn to play since it's a shame to have such a beautiful old instrument of such high quality sitting idle on a shelf . I have offered to help him learn.

 

We'll both be grateful for any help folks can give us regarding the questions we have asked. I have never come across a 64-key concertina before, and it made my day to see and play this lovely box.

[Paul Read]

Tom,

 

For the lever, I would suggest contacting Steve Dickinson. If you look up Wheatstone concertinas, he has a web page. You may also want to try Dave Leese (see the add for spares on this web site).

 

It is probably in an older pitch. There are has been a lot of discussion here on the pros and cons of this, but they generally are more expensive if in A=440 (modern pitch) because of higher demand. My guess is that on the market it would be worth in the region of C$5000 (2000 pounds) once restored.

 

The namr J.J. Vickers turns up often on old concertinas.

 

I can't help with the ledger question but there are others here who can.

 

Nice to know there is another tenor-treble aeola player here in Ontario (apart from me, Ian Robb and Robin Harrison)

 

I hope that helps

 

Paul

[JimLucas]

...his box turns out to be a beautiful old 64-key Wheatstone English, #28643, made in 1920. It has black wooden ends

 

My own questions are first, what does the number 19A signify in the Dickinson ledger entry for this concertina? Is it a model number for 64-key concertinas?

Yes. Models 17-19 were ebony-ended Æolas -- 8-sided, best quality all 'round, -- 19 was a 56-key tenor-treble, and 19A was a 64-key variant, with the extra notes on top.

 

I have some old Wheatstone price lists which show these models. I also have a similar instrument, from 1930. That top note is a high G is 4 octaves above the bottom note of a fiddle.

 

The owner is retired, and I encouraged him to learn to play since it's a shame to have such a beautiful old instrument of such high quality sitting idle on a shelf . I have offered to help him learn.

Good man!

 

...neither he nor I has a clear idea of its worth.

I recommend that he send it to the Button Box in Massachusetts for restoration. (Contact them first, and they will let him know when they're ready to work on it. They can also advise him on packing and insurance for shipping.) While they have it, I believe they could also provide an appraisal.

[Robin Harrison]

...................or get Reads Reeds in Toronto to have a look at it..local.

[JimLucas]

...................or get Reads Reeds in Toronto to have a look at it..local.

Good point.

[JimLucas]

I have often wondered if there are any more un-discovered concertinas, singly or in small family groups left hiding out in thier native habitat,....

As seen on eBay, a number of instrurments seem to have surfaced recently in the Portland, Oregon (USA) area, including the one with a tenuous connection to Stan Laurel. But the recent appearance of Tina -- with her great grandfather's instruments -- here on Cocertina.net is one more example of not only "unknown" instruments, but "unknown" players out there.

 

I think we need to be reminded that while we may feel we're trying to reach "all" the world's concertina players, we may yet be a long way from doing so. I don't think there's any reason to expect them all to be trying to contact us.

 

No, I think there are still a lot of wonderful surprises out there, if only we're lucky enough to discover them.

[Frank Edgley]

PETERHURST:..."THAT OLD THING. I LISTENED TO THAT BOX EVERY DAY FOR YEARS AND HATED IT, THE WEEK AFTER MY HUSBAND DIED, I THREW IT IN THE RUBBISH BIN AND WAS GLAD TO BE RID OF IT."

 

A somewhat similar story:

 

Years ago, I had an old Javelin (AMC auto). Apparently it was beginning to become a collector's item as someone stopped outside and knocked on the door and asked if I would be willing to sell it. Then he spied one of my concertinas on the mantle and said that his father used to play one. It was just like the one on my mantle---black, with silver ends and gold stamping on the sides. It was up in his mother's attic just a few streets away. I said I would trade the car for the concertina and he jumped at the chance. He said he would be right back. Half an hour later, he returned without the concertina. It turns out that his mother had just finished cleaning out the attic a few weeks before and had tossed it out!