Double manual melodeon
Alternate name(s)
- Double manual reed organ
Maker
Carhart, Needham & Co.
Date1858-1860 ca.
Place MadeNew York, New York, United States, North America
Serial No.3949
SignedStenciled in gold-colored lettering above upper manual: Carhart, Needham & Co. / New York.MarkingsStenciled in gold-colored lettering above lower manual: Carhart’s Patent. July 1st 1856
Printed paper label glued to right hand side of bellows: CARHART’S PATENT / Patented Dec. 28th, 1846, / Reissued. June 24th, 1856 / MANUFACTURED BY / CARHART, NEEDHAM & Co. / 97 East 23rd Street, N. Y.
Serial number stamped inside rear of case, beneath central lid hinge.
DescriptionDouble manual reed organ. Compass of each manual: FF-f3 (5 octaves). Likely bone naturals with exposed wooden key fronts; stained wooden accidentals; Case in the form of a heaving American square piano; 4 legs of curved octagonal cross-section, on metal castors. Case veneered in Brazilian rosewood, rounded corners; exterior of case largely unadorned; a 4-petalled “clover” shape in moulding on extreme left and right of front (right hand side missing). Lid in 4 hinged sections; front section forms vertical fall in front of keyboards. 2 metal pedals in wooden pedal lyre, of decorative shape (2 long wooden rods with metal pins connect pedals to bellows); bottom of bellows visible underneath case (painted black). No music desk – narrow wooden strip above keyboards serves as ledge which front fall section rests on to form sloping music desk. Inside case mostly plain veneer – single row of 4-petal shapes pierced along front, below keyboards – backed with brown silk. One wooden stop-knob beside bass end of lower keyboard. Back section of lid opens to reveal tops of bellows; suction bellows
Evidence of additional nameplate (?) attached below serial number stamped into case interior – not extant.
According to Gellerman, serial number 3949 falls into the range between 1858 (3300) and 1860 (4386).
Apparently, a similar instrument in the Smithsonian Collection (No. 315702) with the same compass, ca. 1860.
DimensionsHeight: 884 mm
Width: 1372 mm
Depth (case only): 259 mm
Depth (with legs): 740 mm
Provenanceold by Paul McInnis Inc., Auctioneers, Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, lot 212, to Lillian Caplin, The Center for Musical Antiquities, New York, New York. Sold by Caplin to the NMM, October 1995
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1995
Object number05906
On View
Not on view
