Newbie question on providence

[drunkenmax2]

Hi,

I have recently inherited a Hohner Verdi II from my father who died a few years ago. He played it until he was around 60 but then it went into the attic and now is in my hands. I'd like to restore it etc. but am also interested in its history. His father picked it up from some looted Nazi stash whilst with the 8th Army travelling through Europe back from Africa. I read that I could age it from the serial number but I cannot find a serial number so I have a simple question to begin with, where SHOULD the serial number be. I see no maker's plate at all.

Btw, the instrument still is pretty functional though it has some heat damage which may originate from its early life as pilfered booty

 

[OuijaBoard]

By "pilfered booty," do you mean your dad pilfered it from vanquished Nazi plunder, or that the Nazis presumably pilfered it? Hohner and other accordions were beloved popular instruments in Germany, so Germans couldn't have really needed to pilfer them from their own citizens. Though, if the arguably apocryphal tale of Hitler banning and burning accordions as "ethnic filth" is true, perhaps it was "confiscated" by the Nazis rather than looted or pilfered!

You can get close to nailing the age range using Google Images for photo comps and standard Google for blog and forum posts. Provenance is different from age. Provenance encompasses age, but includes more-- the origins and ownership/whereabouts history of the item. Sometimes the term "provenance" is also used loosely to mean, how the item came into the hands of its holder. In art dealing, "questionable provenance" implies, possibly stolen or forged.

 

[drunkenmax2]

By "pilfered booty," do you mean your dad pilfered it from vanquished Nazi plunder, or that the Nazis presumably pilfered it? Hohner and other accordions were beloved popular instruments in Germany, so Germans couldn't have really needed to pilfer them from their own citizens. Though, if the arguably apocryphal tale of Hitler banning and burning accordions as "ethnic filth" is true, perhaps it was "confiscated" by the Nazis rather than looted or pilfered!

You can get close to nailing the age range using Google Images for photo comps and standard Google for blog and forum posts. Provenance is different from age. Provenance encompasses age, but includes more-- the origins and ownership/whereabouts history of the item. Sometimes the term "provenance" is also used loosely to mean, how the item came into the hands of its holder. In art dealing, "questionable provenance" implies, possibly stolen or forged.

Its difficult to separate fact from fiction after all these years. The story is that it was part of a larger collection of items taken from Jewish families in Austria. Reading your comment it could well have been Sinti or Roma though, makes sense. Its unlikely the squaddies would be aware of the differences between persecuted nazi victims . Its unlikely I would find the true descendants but if I could establish some truth in that then I'd certainly look at handing it over to a museum or something as I do not play. Thanks

 

[JerryPH]

For the Verdi model line they mostly had it on the back of the bass side of the accordion, but it was lightly stamped making it often hard to see. If not there, I would hunt around inside, though as mentioned most have them outside.

For most people getting info via the serial number is not going to help much, but what Hohner does is send a certificate of sale or manufacture and to where it was shipped to be sold... kind of like this:



Another member posted that "Hohner told me "Please be informed, between 1930 and 1987 you receive the delivery date and shipping location, after 1987 only production month"". Please take that under consideration. Hohner is asking 35 Euros (about $50), per accordion to give out this info.

That is about as close to provenance one is able to get with Hohner, other than possibly any pictures, receipts, stories you yourself can gather and verify.

 

[OuijaBoard]

Wondering if that very cool documentation is haveable for the standard factory production models as opposed to the premium stuff like the Gola. Yes the serial #s on the rear bass side often wear off.

 

[Tom]

Good luck with your Verdi, Max! Those are solidly built accordions, definitely worth restoring if you can. Will you learn to play it too? Friendly people here will help with restoration questions.

I thought you had questions about Providence. . It’s a very interesting city with a strong accordion history, due to all the Italians and other travelers across the centuries. A few of us here hail from around there, as does the famous Cory Pesaturo, and man do we have some stories….. Got a famous pineapple and blue bug.

 

[JerryPH]

Wondering if that very cool documentation is haveable for the standard factory production models as opposed to the premium stuff like the Gola

Should be. People on this board received certificates for Verdi and Amati accordions in the past. Always best to ask Hohner before sending the money, right?

 

[OuijaBoard]

Its difficult to separate fact from fiction after all these years. The story is that it was part of a larger collection of items taken from Jewish families in Austria. Reading your comment it could well have been Sinti or Roma though, makes sense. Its unlikely the squaddies would be aware of the differences between persecuted nazi victims . Its unlikely I would find the true descendants but if I could establish some truth in that then I'd certainly look at handing it over to a museum or something as I do not play. Thanks

After posting my comment it did occur to me that a plundered German Hohner didn't have to have been German-owned. Could have been from out of Germany, owned by Jewish or other accordion-playing non-German population that was invaded, destroyed, and subject to looting. But in the WWII endgame, there were entire blocks and quarters of German cities like Berlin where hundreds and hundreds of households in tenements, apartments, and standing houses, were razed and destroyed from the air as well as from the ground, and there were mountain ranges of possessions exposed in open destroyed buildings and pits outside. Indeed they were looted by Americans, Russians, and Germans themselves.

Editing to add that apparently there were accordions in some of the camps, at least among new arrivals. There was a one-line reference to Italians with fiddles and accordions in one of the memoirs I've read--don't recall if it was Viktor Frankl, Primo Levi, or who. I think the context was, in the trains or soon after arriving.

 

[JKJ]

I read that I could age it from the serial number but I cannot find a serial number so I have a simple question to begin with, where SHOULD the serial number be. I see no maker's plate at all.

I have a Verdi, brought from germany by a relative. I couldn’t find the S/N at first. It was on the back near the bottom of the bass section, the numbers barely pressed into the celluloid and almost invisible. I finally saw it with a small flashlight held a glancing angle.

JKJ