Western Europe, France, ca. 1860s CE. A lovely antique accordion instrument with a wood fingerboard / housing, brass and nacre keys, and functional bellows with colored paper overlay. This is a diatonic aerophone- the bellows produce 2 different pitches when expanded and compressed. The 24 touches or touch pieces and the 26 valve covers are each wood with a shimmering nacre (mother of pearl) overlay. The slender lever keys are made of brass, as is the bass lever that the left hand would operate. The housing is inlaid with lighter honey colored wood to create handsome scrolling foliate shapes. The bellows are 5-fold pasteboards covered with a lovely mint green, red, and golden paper. This is not recommended for playing as is, but the excellent craftsmanship, woodwork, and shells, make this a superb display piece! Size when compressed: 14" L x 6" W x 5" H (35.6 cm x 15.2 cm x 12.7 cm)

Provenance: private Hidden Valley Lake, California, USA collection; ex-private Florida, USA estate

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#170637

Peeling to paper and cracking to paperboard on bellows. Chips to wood and a few small losses to lighter wood inlays in corners. Missing nacre panels and loss to wood on 2 keys, and several are slightly loose but still attached. Keys are stiff and several do not articulate. Not playable as is, but instrument still emits sounds.