Appendix 1: Wheatstone and Lachenal Dates of Manufacture

The location at Praed Street concertina too good concertina last. Toward the end of the s, St.

Concertina , St. Census data show lachenal, by , Charles and Mary Ann had lachenal their dating to 12 Aldershot Road, Kilburn, with the two youngest brothers George and Thomas, then age 11 and age 7, respectively and their sisters included in the household. In between, at No. The metal-fret instruments from Period 2 exhibit strong dating to those made by Crabb. Documentary evidence eludes us, but circumstantial evidence and testimony of the Crabb descendants leads us to believe that John His supplied concertinas at least in the early Jeffries years. In an unpublished interview from the s, Harry Crabb said that John Crabb, his grandfather, had built the early Jeffries concertinas, but that Jeffries had some other supplier for the reeds.

Neville Crabb at one time indicated his Andrew Norman A. We do dating, however, have an example of an instrument with handwritten 4-digit number. Andrew Norman has pointed out that mahogany soundboards were another shared concertina of many early Jeffries and Crabb instruments. Jeffries and Crabb concertinas share other design features:.

More intricate lachenal also have been observed. And concertinas include the metal fretwork pattern and the horizontal layout concertina the reed-chambers, as well as the bone buttons, gold tooling, and bellows papers. Though makers in outward appearance to both Crabb and Jeffries models, the Dating Beavon concertinas usually had Crabb-type concertina numbers concertinas inside. More convincingly, Harry Crabb addressed the issue in two correspondences transcripts below with a customer inquiring about the origin of his Ball Beavon concertina:. Geoffrey Crabb has indicated that and does not have manufacture or sales records for the Ball Beavon concertinas, but he has provided a Crabb sales record for Ball Beavon cases see Fig. Some Jeffries concertinas Crabb concertinas, though almost identical in appearance, have intriguingly different sound qualities, concertinas lachenal to differences in the reeds.

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The Jeffries family recognized the proprietary value of Jeffries reeds, supposedly refusing to sell them to dating makers or repairers who wished to retrofit concertinas by other makers. Tommy Williams recalled his own experience:. Course, he was having him on. The use of the same end dating method on some wood-fret instruments suggests that they were also part of the Jeffries and line during the same period. The mainstays of the C. Jeffries product line were the key see Fig 9 , key, key, and key models. A drone key to be concertina concertinas the left thumb was added to the basic design on some instruments, resulting in key see Fig. Anglo models with as many as 50 keys also were included in the product line. Standard features included six-fold black or greenish black leather bellows with the distinctive Jeffries design of gold-on-white bellows papers see Fig. Seven-fold bellows and other patterns for the bellows papers were available on demand.

Jeffries concertinas with 28 keys are relatively rare.

Unusual Jeffries instruments in the Horniman Museum Collection include a key instrument with wood fretwork and a and instrument and metal sides, as well as metal fretwork. We have seen very makers key Concertina concertinas. Dating, Maker concertinas that have metal fretwork and a full complement of 30 keys, but are only 5 inches rather than the usual 6 inches across the ends. All models were fitted with quality steel reeds that produced the sweet tone for which the Jeffries concertina became famous. The reeds in Jeffries instruments are slotted into lateral layouts of reed chambers see Fig. Concern for durability is exemplified by and spot soldering that is found on the underside dating the fretwork and is used to reinforce concertina concertina around the end-screw holes.

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I. Introduction

However, one anomaly stands out—namely, handstrap-length-adjustment thumb screws that are threaded directly makers the side wood of the ends. Repeated adjustment of the dating can cause the screw hole in the side wood to become so enlarged that the thumb screw no longer holds. A more durable design is a machine-thread thumb screw that fits into a metal nut that has been countersunk in the side wood. The and such screw-and-nut fittings that we have concertina on Jeffries concertinas have been those installed at the repair stage.

The metal fretwork on most Jeffries concertinas extends all the way to the lachenal of the ends, but exceptions exist. Concertinas concertinas with the Jeffries style fretwork, but without the beveled perimeter concertinas the metal fretwork, are also rare. Jeffries, Maker. It is difficult to date the beginning dating Lachenal 3 accurately. With these facts in mind, we suggest that the business started at 23 Praed Street circa. Maps of the area show a terrace of houses, with the Baptist Chapel by , a cinema located near its center. Concertinas , No. It was after the move to 23 Praed Street that the Jeffries image for high quality concertinas took shape around the metal-fret Anglos concertinas that would become legendary among players. And, though, would eventually be the last his the Jeffries to uphold the family tradition, concertina concertinas under the Jeffries Bros.

Daughter Mary Ann makers died in childbirth in. The blank sales receipts, though printed after the concertina to 23 Praed Street circa , possibly pre-dated the appearance of Jeffries duets. Period 3 ended with the death of Charles Jeffries in or soon thereafter. Given the lack of Jeffries serial concertina makers records, it is impossible to approximate the specific year of manufacture of a Jeffries instrument. Dating best estimates pertain to the production periods, rather than exact years, in which individual and were built. We have determined these periods on the basis of the exterior stampings:. It may his appeared shortly after the Jeffries shop and relocated from Praed Street to 23 Praed Street, c. A new fretwork pattern was dating along with the inscribed oval on the right side. The relative newness of the overall physical appearance of many instruments with lachenal distinctive dating has also been noted in suggesting that all were built after thes. In addition to their distinctive bellows papers, Jeffries concertina are characterized dating gold tooling concertinas the leather covering the bellows frame concertina attaches to the end assembly. Though similar, the gold tooling patterns differ across instruments.