socalasfen.blogg.se

• #How much does an old mason and hamlin model a weigh portable

Melodeons have what one collector describes as “a bright reedy tone with little voicing” – see the bottom of this post for links to examples. (Note that it’s the opposite, then, of the English harmonium, which uses air pressure over the reeds.) The vacuum bellows mechanism was invented in the 1830s, patented in 1846, and used by a number of organ manufacturers in the mid to late 19th century.

#How much does an old mason and hamlin model a weigh portable

9 Four Octave, Portable,” for $60.Ī melodeon – also known as a portable or collapsible organ – is a small reed organ, an American invention that uses vacuum or suction of air over reeds to create sound. Our example matches, in octaves and size, “No. Ours is marked 605 on the case and 629 on the works, which would place it in the late 1850s in the maker’s number sequence, as noted here.įrom the 1863 Mason & Hamlin catalog. 9, made by Mason & Hamlin in the mid 19th century. The manufacturer’s label has been removed from the bellows, but it is an extremely close match – using both the catalog image and known examples in modern collections – to Melodeon No.

Happily, a convenient wall helps with the latter issue, and it doesn’t need to be playable to be a lovely addition to our Parlor. It appears to have all original parts, and it’s almost complete, but unfortunately the missing bits – a board inside, and a broken-off foot – mean it neither plays nor stands on its own. This style includes a single lamp stand (the red velvet circle at right), an engraved brass latch to hold the lid open at an angle (it’s rather loose now the lid should be standing taller), and other decorative yet functional features, though it lacks the carved music stand that other manufacturers employed. When upright, it measures 30” tall, 31” wide, and 17” deep. This is a four-octave, lyre-leg rosewood melodeon, almost certainly made by Mason & Hamlin in the late 1850s. Meet the newest addition to the Beall-Dawson House, and your curator’s new favorite artifact: the Walker family’s melodeon.