Re: [Harp-L] Mexican Revolution, now U.S. Civl war harps

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm skeptical of most of the dug-up stuff represented as being from the
Civil War.

Most of it was dug up by amateurs lacking in the required skills in
dating finds in soil strata, and most of what I've seen is for sale.
"Civil War" sells better than "some stuff I dug up." 

Some things, like bullets, buttons, and rifle parts can be dated but
harmonicas generally can't. Exceptions would be the harmonicas known to
be available in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, like the Zwahlen chord
harmonica with its extremely distinctive single reedplate with three
courses of progressively sized reeds. Zwahlens are extremely rare as
they were never made in large quantities, but I have seen a Zwahlen
reedplate in one picture of a Civil War dig. That one is probably
genuinely from the period.

Prior to about 1880, harmonica were completely handmade - for instance,
the reeds were individually hammered from brass wire - and most of the
work was done in home workshops by independent contractors during the
off months when they weren't busy farming.

Until 1878-1880, nobody was manufacturing harmonicas in sufficient
quantities early enough for them to have appeared in the hands of more
than a few thousand of the 3 to 4 million soldiers who served in the
Civil War. As most pre-Hohner exportation was done through ad-hoc deals
struck more or less at the dock with ships about to sail, records are
pretty much nonexistent and quantities involved were probably quite
small, in the dozens or perhaps hundreds.

By the time of the 1914 war, harmonica production was in the tens of
millions and Hohner had established strong distribution in the UK,
North America and several other parts of the world. The image of the
Doughboy in France in 1917 with a harmonica is quite accurate and
probably was the basis for Hollywood writers a few decades later
writing the harmonica into Civil War screenplays.

Winslow

--- Dave Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Winslow,
> 
> That's good stuff about Hohner and Mexico. You mentioned that Hohner
> wasn't really selling harps in the U.S. before 1868. Do you know who
> was? I wonder where all our Civil War harps came from. 
> The harmonicas I've seen that have been dug from Civil War sites, are
> basically just a rusty reedplate and some reeds, maybe nails if
> you're lucky, all else has deteriorated to nothing over the years.
> I'd really learn more about them, I'm trying to get an idea what
> these looked like for a little project of mine, but I can't find any
> info or patents dating back that far. Do you know when the coverplate
> was introduced? 
> 
> Dave Payne Sr. 
> Elk River Harmonicas
> www.elkriverharmonicas.com
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