Hi all,
We sometimes discuss the patterns on metal grilles of button accordions, in the context of trying to understand who made them or where the components originated.
This has been an issue in trying to understand the Irish American accordions, and also in figuring out which boxes that were exported from Europe (especially from the 1920s and 1930s) might have been made in Italy or in Germany.
When I look at a lot of these in comparison, it's easy to see that accordions labeled by different manufacturers sometimes seem to have grilles stamped with similar patterns. But I suspect that some cheaper accordions have "copied versions" of the original patterns, that are made a little more cheaply.
In this thread we could post images of metal grilles that have familiar stamped patterns, or that have stamped borders but a central area that is hand-fretworked.
For example, in the photos below note the unlabeled Italian box and the black Scandalli. Then compare with the Frontalini grille from a recent ebay auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FISARMONICA-SEMIDIATONICA-Frontalini-1950-/151086729277?pt=Fisarmoniche&hash=item232d78883)
And finally compare the outside border of the grille of the Cunningham Baldoni-Bartoli box. The middle section of that grille seems to have been hand-fretworked.
PG
