The Concertina Museum Collection Ref:C-089.


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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: C Wheatstone No 35995. A fine 12-key "miniature" concertina, made during 1954. It has chrome plated metal ends in a raised and chamfered pattern, and impressed with "Wheatstone" name and with Serial Number directly into the metal. It is in the rare "Clown" format, in which the bellows slide apart via a professionally-fitted centre-slide, and the separate ends are each fitted on the inner face of the dividing panels with lead weights, enabling the instrument to be played separately. Original purple-velvet lined rectangular leatherette case with gilt & red Wheatstone "West Street" label.

Concertina Summary: C Wheatstone No 35995. A fine 12-key "miniature" concertina, made during 1954. It has chrome plated metal ends and impressed "Wheatstone" label and Serial Number mounts. It is of "Clown" format, in which the bellows slide apart via a centre-slide, and the separate, lead weighted ends can then be played separately. Original case with gilt & red Wheatstone label.

Owner or Collection: Concertina Museum, Belper

Maker: C Wheatstone

Maker Links: Concertina, Charles Wheatstone No 35995 http://www.concertina.com/wheatstone/index.htm

Wheatstone Ledgers Link: www.horniman.info/DKNSARC/SD03/PAGES/D3P0680S.HTM This instrument was made between April and September 1954. It appears in the Dickinson Series of Ledgers that list all instruments from Serial Number 25001, made in May 1910, right up to the closure of the Wheatstone section of Boosey & Hawkes' Edgware factory in January 1974. For details of these Ledgers, visit www.horniman.info/.

Region of Manufacture: London

Main Maker's Label Wording: The "Wheatstone" name and Serial Number are impressed with directly into the metal of RH and LH end.

Principal Serial Number: 35995, stamped directly into RH metal fretwork

System Type: A 12-key "miniature" concertina, in "English" system layout.

Source Catalogue No: The Concertina Museum Collection Ref:C-089.

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.