This is an Antique George Prince / Carhart Melodeon
This is a Antique George Prince / Carhart Melodeon. This is a very early melodeon that probably dates to the mid 1840s. It is an important piece because it is right at the time that George Prince and Jeremiah Carhart separated into 2 independent melodeon and reed organ manufacturing firms. This piece bears both the Prince and Carhart labels. On the music shelf is the George Prince Logo. Unfortunately the paper is very worn, and only partially readable and about three quarters present. The Carhart name is on the Reservoir and is in excellent condition. The cloth over the sound grills is original and should be replaced as it is disintegrating and not in very good shape. This is of the folding melodeon type and most likely predates the common lyre leg style. This has 4 thin slightly curved legs which 2 on each side are attached and hinged to fold out. This piece should be very easy to ship as it folds up for storage or shipping. There are 2 thumb screws one on each of the legs making setup and take down easy.
The original lock is still present but I do not have the key and I do not know if it works.
This also has the original reed hook which is used to extract the reeds from the reed cells if they should get clogged by dust. This tool is secured under a rail that directs the sound up and out of the music shelf.
Over all this piece is in good original condition. The finish is all original and could use some polishing and buffing. There are normal scratches nicks and dents and a few pieces of veneer that are chipped. The keyboard has 4 octaves which is based in C and consists of 49 notes no chipped keys. All notes do sound when pressed. I have included a sound file of it being played to show that it does work. I opted to play something slower to show that the reservoir does hold air well.
It is in original unrestored condition and plays extremely well, and a rebuild is not necessary at this time. Because this is such an early example the ribs of the bellows are constructed from hard board, and leather and finished in a black embossed leatherette. Later Melodeons had at least the reservoir covered in rubber coated cloth. This melodeon is also unique in that the exauster (pumping) bellows are located on the bottom of the reservoir and not inside the case as on later examples. I do not think that the pedal is original, although I have never seen another like this so I do not know what the original looked like. As far as I know it is complete but in any case what you see is what you get. All items are sold AS-IS. Please note that if the Buy-It-Now option is used I will ship this within the U. S. for Free. if the Buy-It-Now option is NOT used the buyer will pay for shipping. I will not ship this outside of the U.S.
