Concertina Identification

Hi all - I know nothing about concertinas, but I was at a friend’s house the other night and he was telling me he’s thinking of taking it up. He then produced an old concertina that had been in his family for at least 50 years. I wonder if anyone in the know could help us to identify it and let us know if it’s any good or not?

It is in a wooden felt lined box with the name G. Higginson carved into the lid - I suspect this was an owner though, not the maker. The concertina itself has 3 rows of 5 buttons on each side and is inscribed on one side with the words “English Make” and “Trade Mark”. There is a logo which looks a bit like a beetle I think - an oval with two ‘eyes’ at one end and part of a smaller oval drawn inside the larger one.

I don’t know if that’s enough information, but I would be delighted if anyone could help with this.

Thanks

I forgot to say - there is also a serial number 67982.

That sounds like a Lachenal anglo concertina. Check concertina.net and concertina.com where there´s lots of info about all types and makes of concertinas.

I have something similar - Lachenal 30 key. The ‘beetle’ you describe is a basic drawing of the concertina reed. There’s a section on the concertina.net site where you can get an approx. manufacturing date from the serial number. If it’s a C/G tuning, there were about 200,000 made.

possibly has brass reeds,lachenal generally stamped steel reeds,when they had steel reeds.
does it have wooden[mahogany or rosewood ]ends,does it have bone or metal buttons.

Dickens is asking because the exterior of the concertina gives some clues as to the quality; bone buttons and wooden ends would be the cheapest, although yours as a 30-button 3-row is already above the lowest. Knowing whether it has brass or steel reeds would also be a clue - steel is favoured as having the brighter tone. It is interesting to note that the original range of prices for a concertina was about 20X, from bottom to top prices, whereas today, for one of the good makes, it’s less than 10X, depending on condition as well as original quality. Also, remember, to restore an old instrument back to good playable condition could cost £250 +, for tuning, valves and bushes, and bellows repair, even if the instrument seems ok on its own.