Re: [Harp-L] now Star, was Hohner Chromonika III

[steve warner <10reedsbent@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dave,
I went to Pat Missin's site and he shows examples of the 1896 or 97  Marine
Band with a very small 6 point star.  Then in 1905 the star was slightly
bigger, so it looks like it was used earlier if his research is correct.  He
mentions that he's heard the 6 point star may have been the number of
Matthius Hohner's kids.  He also said he's seen a 5 point that's not as old
as his 6 point specimen.  That would mean that one of the kids passed away,
but he certainly didn't have another kid to make 6 children once again.  So
that hypothesis doesn't jive.  I guess no one really knows for sure,
however,  one thing for sure is that the Nazi's were not too keen with a 6
point star no matter what the meaning.

Now on to your info about the star and the Paris 1937 engraving.....my
Chromonika III has both, so I assume it's really rare?

On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 5:45 PM, David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> There has never emerged a exact account of why the star was added/removed,
> but
> my best guess and Ive yet to hear a more plausible suggestion, was it was
> added
> after the Hohner/ Weiss merger in the 1920s because that star was the Weiss
> trademark and it appears on the Hohner trademark about the time of the
> merger.
> The Weiss heir got a high level executive position at Hohner as part of the
> agreement. The six sided star appears to have been dropped around 1937.
> that was
> the year that Hohner was set up at the German display at this exhibition In
> Paris, where the German and Soviet booths were right next to each other and
> the
> national displays turned into this big personal pissing match between
> Hitler and
> Stalin. It was an extremely high profile thing as a result and every detail
> was
> freaked out about by the nazi and soviet high brass. You see only a handful
> of
> harmonicas bearing the medal from 1937 Paris with the star on the
> trademark,
> most do not. In fact, i have only seen one harmonica with both. It was an
> Unsere
> Liebling. My belief is the ones bearing the medal and star were made before
> the
> exhibition to offer for sale there, that's why they are rare. My guess is
> it got
> noticed there and susequently the star was eliminated. I've never found
> direct
> evidence of this, only circumstancial, so I call it the Elk River star
> hypothesis.
> Of course, it had nothing to do with promoting religion, if you look at
> something like the The New Best Quality or the original Old Standby (pre
> WWI)
> you see the crescent moon and star straight out of Islam. The Hohners were
> no
> more Jewish than they were Islamic.
>
> There were probably a half dozen companies using the six sided star in the
> late
> 1800s probably as a way to cash in on Wess' popularity, or maybe they just
> liked
> it, but that putting thst star on trademarks started with Weiss. For the
> first
> 40 years or so Weiss was the company Hohner tried to emulate.
>
> Dave Payne, Sr.
> www.elkriverharmonicas.com (in the process of going back up)
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: steve warner <10reedsbent@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tue, March 1, 2011 10:59:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Chromonika III
>
> Great score, Ken!
> I have one too.    First time I blew mine  I sucked in a dried up old
> moth.  A friend who doesn't play harp had this thing and just came over one
> day and said, "I'm cleaning up the garage and I have something for ya."
>
> ***Now look closely on the bottom side and see if it has the Jewish 6 point
> star between the hands right in the center.
> I've attached a picture.
> This star was removed when those Nazi SOB's were in the process of wiping
> out, well, you know the disgusting story.  I  can't remember exactly, but
> pushing 1940 is when this happened.
>



-- 
steve
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