English system concertina. Serial number 123. Oval silver plaque label, engraved 'By His Majesty's letters patent, 123, C Wheatstone, Inventor, 20 Conduit St., Regent St., London'. Faint manuscript date inked on the pan leather: 1834. 5.75 inches flat rosewood ends, fretwork with pine backing. The end assembly fits over and around an inner shelf of the action end-frame. 32 ivory keys: 16 each side, broad ivory naturals stamped with note names, narrow black-cored accidentals. Bone palets.Later green leather straps and later leather-clad finger rests (previous screw holes indicate that the original finger rest was straight). Original nickel strap-screws. Five-fold green leather bellows with slightly embossed gold star papers, and having a 3/8 inches deep bellows frame. The action has complex brass levers with the buttons held in a forked slot on the end of the levers. Screwed blued steel leaf springs, screwed lever pivots, and bone pallets with note names stamped near the holes in the action board. Square end brass reeds, with pan and reeds stamped with note names. Walnut veneered case. Sold on 1st June 1840 to a Miss Ricketts. Subsequently the property of Frank Butler, who was the grandson of George Jones, an East End concertina maker who was an apprentice of Wheatstone.
At one time, this instrument was owned by Frank E Butler, the grandson of concertina maker and ex-Wheatstone employee George Jones. Another owner of this instrument was Charles George Roylance (born c.1840), an accomplished concertina player who wrote many tutor books for both English and Anglo concertinas. A dealer rather than a manufacturer, Roylance mostly sold instruments under his own name that were made by other companies. He advertised as a supplier of concertina parts in magazines as late as the 1890s. The following information is recorded regarding the purchase of this instrument in the ledgers of the Wheatstone & Co. concertina factory (http://www.horniman.info): 1 Jun 1840: Miss Ricketts (C104a, p.7) 26 Feb 1868: Roylance 7.0 (C1053, p.42)
