LE MAR - ARTIST MODEL (INFORMATION NEEDED)

[szunajski]

Hi all,

I hope you are doing well!

I have accordion Le Mar- artist model.
I am looking for information about this accordion.

It looks old, yet very beautiful if cleaned. It has 4 reed blocks on treble side and 5 on bass side.

The reed have Hohner Germany stamped on. Was LE MAR made by hohner? or did hohner make reeds for the Le Mar?

Any information is appreciated.

Thank you,


I am attaching few pics below:

 

[Dingo40]

"Any information is appreciated."
Some thoughts :
Looks to be from the 1930s
The name doesn't appear to be in conventional Spanish, French or Italian?
The reed plates are pinned (a French practice?).
Needs a lot of valves replaced (+tuning?/leaks?).
Excellent cosmetic condition for age.
Can we have a picture showing the rear outer edge of the keyboard?

 

[boxplayer4000]

I have a soft spot for some of those pre-war accordions which were of very high quality, a higher quality than many far younger instruments on the market. As is frequently the case the cost of restoration would exceed the final value but I, like many more, think that value cannot always be measured in money value.
As Dingo40 points out the name 'Le Mar' doesn't appear to fit conventional european languages so we might speculate that the words were chosen by an Italian/German manufacturer because they sounded european to make the accordion more attractive to an American buyer. At the conclusion of WW2, and the years immediately following, would see many accordions make their way westward, over the Atlantic.
The reeds marked 'German/Hohner' are of a type I have not seen. Hopefully some better informed person will be able to throw some light on them.
Any more pictures of the interior (is it 3 or 4 voice?) and the rear bellows condition would be of interest.

 

[szunajski]

Hi all
I will provide more and better pictures tomorrow. I am away from home for the weekend.

Thank you for your replies!

 

[Ventura]

i seem to recall from various discussions that waaaay back when,
Hohner was a rather acquisitive company and that was partly how
they grew into a full line Music Instrument manufacturer

presumably, having roots in Harmonica and reed-making,
taking over smaller brands in different markets and countries,
then gradually making the products more "Hohner" would be
one way some old brand names and products seem to be
crossbred or without much of a trajectory of their own

 

[dunlustin]

Worth mentioning:
There were places in the mid-late 1930s where "Yes, its German y'know" was not the cleverest dinner party line.
Hohner 'hid' under other names at the time - and the Italian brands, as now, had the right flavour.

 

[szunajski]

Hi all,

i took bit more pictures for you to see bellow:

 

[szunajski]

Few more:

 

[Dingo40]

Thanks!
It appears to be in amazing condition for its probable (pre Phillips head screw) age!
You should hear some more from our resident experts.

 

[boxplayer4000]

Design features, including the coupler mechanism and bass, all point to Hohner manufacture. Many (if not all) reeds are Hohner as well, including their standard 'T' reeds from this era.
In the 2nd./latest photo of the bellows the photo shows the rear of the bellows at the front of the accordion. They show some wear but as far as can be seen from the photo, with the bellows in the closed position, are probably still repairable.

 

[JerryPH]

Some unique bits of info... bass mechanism shows a USA patent, reeds identify as German Hohmer "A Mano" reeds, the "Artist" nomenclature is used by Hohner as well on past models.

"DRP" = Deutches Republic Patent"??

Looks like a model that was likely made for US consumption, originally many Hohner parts but renamed by a 3rd party retailer for "international sales".

I bet it was shipped to the USA, mostly made by Hohner, but had a lot of US additions before being sold in North America. In "those days" many people rebranded them to their own name, I think it would be fairly hard to pin down this one, but if really lucky not impossible.

There was a slightly similar model for sale on Reverb a while back.

 

[PhiliGol]

"DRP" = Deutches Republic Patent"??

DRP means Deutsches Reichs-Patent

 

[JerryPH]

DRP means Deutsches Reichs-Patent

Thank-you!