The Concertina Museum Collection Ref:C-007.


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Item Type: Concertina

Summary Labels and Serial Numbers End Frets Fingering System Straps and Holding Devices Fret Baffle Action Board Reeds and Reed Pans Bellows Case and Other

Summary

Full Description: Very early 38-key Amboyna-ended Wheatstone English system, with oval silver plaque having serial no 147, inset rosewood ends over raised reed-pan nests. Restored and modified at Wheatstone & Co, West Street, in 1908, with the addition of new thumb-straps, finger-rests and purpose-built rectangular Wheatstone case. New features appearing on this model include: Tapered reed frams; bushing of keys (possibly a 1906 West St. addition); cork cross-pieces in the reed chambers, and centre-holes in each reed-pan. The accidental keys are all stained black, not black-cored as on all previous models.

Concertina Summary: Charles Wheatstone No 147

Owner or Collection: Concertina Museum, Belper

Maker: C Wheatstone

Maker Links: Concertina, Charles Wheatstone No 147. http://www.concertina.com/wheatstone/index.htm

Wheatstone Ledgers Link: www.horniman.info/WNCMARC/C104A/IMAGES/C1P0080D.JPG

Region of Manufacture: London

Main Maker's Label Wording: By his Majesty's Letters Patent, C Wheatstone, Inventor, 20 Conduit Street, Regent Street, London.

System Type: 38-Key English

Source Catalogue No: The Concertina Museum Collection Ref:C-007.

Maker Details

Wheatstone & Co. were founded in 1824, and survived until 1974. In 1975 the company was refounded by Steve Dickinson.

C. Wheatstone & Co was established in London, England by Charles Wheatstone (uncle to Sir Charles and William Dolman Wheatstone) at the beginning of the 19th Century. They moved to 20 Conduit Street, London, England in 1824. After the death of William in 1862, the firm was taken over by Edward Chidley, a distant relation. Edward Chidley died in 1899, and the firm was then controlled by his sons Edward and Percy. In 1905 the firm moved to 15 West Street.

After the death of the younger Edward Chidley in 1943, part of the firm was sold to Besson & Co., who were taken over by Boosey & Hawkes in 1948. In 1958 they moved to Duncan Terrace, Islington, North London. In 1961 the Duncan Terrace property was sold, and the remains of Wheatstone & Co. were moved to the Boosey & Hawkes factory in Edgware, Middlesex. The company ceased trading on the death of its last employee in 1974.

The remains of the company were purchased by Steve Dickinson in 1975.

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The Concertina Museum Collection

Created August 2009 by Neil Wayne
Last Modified 07 February 2012 by Neil Wayne, Chris Flint, Wes Williams

This page created Tuesday 14 February 2012.