Need help Identifying Unknown Italian (...?) Accordion

[tokitokitoki]

My father's friend passed away and left my family this accordion in perfect condition. However, after scouring the internet I was unable to identify the model. I'm presuming it is Italian made, and from the 1950's-60's. Would anyone be able to help? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Ventura]

it is a nice mid-level Student instrument

Continental would be the American brand associated
with a Broker or a Music school

the accordion has a reed configuration referred to as
3/4 with the treble being one Low one Middle and one High
reedsets. 2 of the shifts are for a mute for quiet practice

many similar under many US brand names were imported
through General/Generalfisa in Italy who sourced the orders
through several different factories (a consortium)

just because it looks like new outside, does not mean it is
still "like new" on the inside, where 7 decades have
certainly dried out the leather valves (hundreds) pads
and gaskets. It would be a deception to list this in a for sale
advert as "perfect condition" because you personally have NOT
owned and cared for it since it was bought new from the Music school
and so you simply do not know what condition it is in other than
"Shiny"

the value is between $400 and $700 if all notes are playable
for all 7 reed-shifts in both directions. It may take quite awhile to
find a buyer as the LMH configuration is not currently popular

 

[tokitokitoki]

Thank you very much for the help!!

 

[niels]

Welcome tokitokitoki
I have learned (from knowledgeable people like Ventura) it is sometimes not easy to find out in which factory an accordion was made. With that being said I see some similarities to my Hagström made by Universal in Castelfidardo Italy.

 

[Ventura]

that's a sweet Hagstrom, for sure

while it has many of the same artistic elements, the primary
and distinctive swope on the grille face is kind of what gives
the "consortium" group away.. see that in various flavors
on so many names and private brands

the group changed over the decades too, some factories closing
as the industry imploded, others consolidating, sons taking over
one builder or other, other son's leaving for the big city and
never coming back

of course Hagstrom is Sweden, and the marketing "arm"
facing that market and other European markets may have
been different from the "General" which was the overall
name of the sales organization facing American bnuyers

we still occasionally see actual original Hagstrom Swedish factory
built Guitars and Accordions over here, as they were marketed
strongly to the USA waaaaay back when Rock n Roll was taking over

very cool looking designs