Wheatstone English Concertina Pricelists

collected by Chris Algar

These Wheatstone & Co. price lists have been collected by Chris Algar of Barleycorn Concertinas over the last twenty-five years. They have mostly been found in concertina cases with few hints to date them.

The approximate dates ascribed to the price lists here are based on internal evidence, as follows:

  1. Address: Wheatstone moved from Conduit Street to West Street in 1905, where they remained until after the war. Parts of the operation were moved to other locations around 1946 and 1951, but the West Street flagship remained until around 1956.
  2. Postcode: The basic postcode areas (e.g., "W.C.") from the late nineteenth century were augmented with numbers (e.g., "W.C.2") added in 1917.
  3. Telegraph Address: some are "Clef", some (later) "Clef, WestCent".
  4. Telephone Office: the prefix "Central" is used until it is overstamped with "Gerrard", which is used until it is in turn overstamped with "Temple Bar".
  5. Awards: most lists carry dated award medals, but the latest is 1908.
  6. Dates and Events Mentioned: rubber stamps and printed notes mention the British Empire Exhibition of 1924, and the Concertina Centenary in 1929 (on one list the date of the centenary contains a typographic error, corrected by hand). An overstamp marks the incorporation of Lachenal & Co., probably 1934–1935.
  7. Printers' Dates: tiny lines supplied by the printer sometimes record the size of the press run and the date of printing.
  8. Trademark Registration: Numbered trademarks for "Æola" (440676) and "Wheatstone" (440677) were assigned to Wheatstone & Co. by successive registrations in September 1923, and so the numbers cannot have been known earlier.
  9. Pitch: some lists offer tuning in C=540 described as "Old Philharmonic Pitch" or "English Concertina Pitch", some offer tuning in C=522 described as "New Philharmonic Pitch" or "Modern Low-Pitch New Philharmonic", some offer a choice. (Both pitches were well-established by this period, but Wheatstone changed from 540 to 522. The current C=523.3 [A=440] pitch is mostly post-World War II, stemming from an international agreement in 1939.)
  10. "Æola" and "octagonal": only some lists offer these models. (The earliest known Duet Æolas appear to have been produced in December 1910; English Æolas--not necessarily octagonal--appear in the Production Ledgers from September 1889.)
  11. Tutors Listed: some lists offer no tutors (presumably not yet published), others offer them at various prices reflecting successive revisions. The first English tutor was offered by Wheatstone at 5 shillings, rising to 6 shilings. The first duet tutor was published by Wheatstone in 1914; revisions were first 2/6 and then 4/6.
  12. Model Numbers: we can check the model numbers offered against the production records in the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers at the Horniman Museum, London. For example, model 32 as a 46-key instrument with non-steel reeds is last seen in the Production Ledgers about 1920; a different model 32, with 39 keys and steel reeds, is first made about 1934. The price lists reflect such changes. The traditional model numbers are replaced with a new nomenclature using one digit for size and one letter for system ("1E", "2D", "3A", and so forth) about 1947, following the war.
  13. Prices: surprisingly, the variations in prices do not seem to be of much help in dating.

Robert Gaskins, Chris Algar, Randall Merris, and Wes Williams joined in the project to assign dates to the price lists. Additional documents were contributed by Mike Eichner and Jim Lucas.

wheatstone-pricelist-1848-C824 “The Concertina, A New Musical Instrument”
by Wheatstone & Co.
Promotional brochure and price list, dated 1848. 2 pages. This copy is in the collection of the Horniman Museum, no. C824.
Posted 15 January 2004
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-mdra-1859 Wheatstone English Pricelist MDRA 1859
contributed by Robert Gaskins
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas from the annual Musical Directory, Register and Almanac (London: Rudall, Rose, Carte) for 1859. (The bulk of the list is harmoniums.)
Posted 07 Mar 2005
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pricelist-wh-english-1915 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1915
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1915 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
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pricelist-wh-english-1918 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1918
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1918 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1920 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1920
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1920 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1925 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1925
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1925 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1929 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1929
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1929 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1930 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1930
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1930 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1931 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1931
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1931 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1935 Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1935
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1935 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-1935-us Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1935 (US Dollar)
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1935 by internal evidence. (Apparently a reprint of the c. 1935 UK pricelist with the London address removed and prices changed throughout from sterling to dollars.)
Posted 15 May 2003
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pricelist-wh-english-anglo-duet-1947 Wheatstone English, Anglo, and Duet Pricelist circa 1947
contributed by Mike Eichner
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English, Anglo, and Duet concertinas. Dated c. 1947 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2004
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-anglo-duet-1950 Wheatstone English, Anglo, and Duet Pricelist circa 1950
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English, Anglo, and Duet concertinas. Dated c. 1950 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 February 2003
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pricelist-wh-english-1952-us Wheatstone English Pricelist circa 1952
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English concertinas. Dated c. 1952 by internal evidence. (Prices in sterling and in U.S. dollars.)
Posted 15 May 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-anglo-duet-1955-us Wheatstone English, Anglo, and Duet Pricelist circa 1955
contributed by Jim Lucas
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English, Anglo, and Duet concertinas. Dated c. 1955 by internal evidence. (Prices in sterling and in U.S. dollars.)
Posted 15 May 2004
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-anglo-duet-1956 Wheatstone English, Anglo, and Duet Pricelist circa 1956
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English, Anglo, and Duet concertinas. Dated c. 1956 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 February 2003
» read full document in pdf
pricelist-wh-english-anglo-duet-1965 Wheatstone English, Anglo, and Duet Pricelist circa 1965
collected by Chris Algar
Wheatstone & Co. list of models and prices for English, Anglo, and Duet concertinas. Dated c. 1965 by internal evidence.
Posted 15 May 2004
» read full document in pdf

wheatstone-incorporating-lachenal-rubber-stamp
Cover of Wheatstone & Co.
english pricelist, showing
concertinas in five sizes
for consort playing.

Links to related documents

pricelists-wheatstone-duet Wheatstone Duet Concertina Pricelists
collected by Chris Algar
Most of these pricelists were found in old concertina cases. From internal evidence it is possible to date the lists c. 1910 to c. 1965 (plus one very early pricelist for Double duets c. 1850). These lists contain information about Wheatstone model numbers and descriptions which are useful to interpret the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers. See also English pricelists from Wheatstone. See also Anglo pricelists from Wheatstone.
Posted 15 February 2003
» go to directory
pricelists-wheatstone-anglo Wheatstone Anglo Concertina Pricelists
collected by Chris Algar
Most of these pricelists were found in old concertina cases. From internal evidence it is possible to date the lists c. 1910 to c. 1965. These lists contain information about Wheatstone model numbers and descriptions which are useful to interpret the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers. See also English pricelists from Wheatstone. See also Duet pricelists from Wheatstone.
Posted 15 February 2003
» go to directory
lachenal-sig-wheatstone-concertina-ledgers Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers
Directory
Historical business records of C. Wheatstone & Co. from the Horniman Museum in London. Earlier ledgers from the Wayne Archives contain company sales records from the late 1830s to the 1860s along with production records from the 1860s to the 1890s and some early records of wages and other payments. Later ledgers from the Dickinson Archives contain production records from 1910 to 1974. All surviving ledgers have been digitized (some 2,300 pages in total) and made available free on the web for private research. The same material is also available to buy on an inexpensive CD. Includes an introduction to the project by Margaret Birley, Keeper of Musical Instruments at the Horniman Museum, and an article by Robert Gaskins describing in detail how the ledgers were digitized.
Posted 15 June 2003; Updated 15 June 2005
» go to directory
english-homepage English Concertinas
Directory
Concertina Library directory of all information on this website about English Concertinas.
Posted 01 January 2005
» go to directory
wheatstone-homepage C. Wheatstone & Co.
Directory
Concertina Library directory of all information on this website about C. Wheatstone & Co.
Posted 01 January 2005
» go to directory
calculator Calculate Modern Values of Historic Concertina Prices
by Randall C. Merris and Robert Gaskins
“How much would that be in new money?” An interactive calculator to convert sterling values from any year 1830–1999 to the equivalent value in the year 2000. The calculation preserves the relation between the chosen value and “average earnings” for the two dates; this method makes it appropriate for converting wages and capital sums, and also for expensive discretionary products such as concertinas. The calculator deals with both “old money” (prior to 1971) and the later decimalized currency. It is especially useful for understanding historical documents such as old advertisements and pricelists, and the sales prices and wages recorded in the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers from the Horniman Museum.
Posted 01 January 2005
» read full article