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[pgroff]

Great!  So do these two lack stops?

Yes, they were very cheap models ($1.25 and $2.50 respectively) and only single-reeded, as I mentioned above. But they go to show that (at that time) cheap models could have as few as 6, or as many as 12 buttons (in fact there's a 4-button one listed too, but under toys!)

Those two seem similar to the current ebay Menze* in having a very simple plate of wood (possibly laminated) attached to the wider bellows frames.  A very simple form of construction that might not be associated with stops

Not so current in fact, since somebody seems to have made an offer on it that's been accepted - I wonder if they've been reading this and realised it's hand-made in America, rather than mass-produced in Germany?

It looks like the eBay one is of simpler, cheaper construction than mine (which has moulded frames, but still no stops), but it will still be much better-made, and with good solid walnut, than those (painted) "imitation rosewood" softwood German ones. I expect it may well have 2 sets of zinc long-plate steel reeds, and be surprisingly heavy.

Here's another of those cheap, large, 2-voice one-row boxes with 12 buttons in the row.  A little different than your example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Accordion-/121587099687?hash=item1c4f27e827

PG

[triskel]

Here's another of those cheap, large, 2-voice one-row boxes with 12 buttons in the row.  A little different than your example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Accordion-/121587099687?hash=item1c4f27e827

Mine is actually relatively small, and cheaper, but the one in your link looks much more substantial and probably has/had a stop on it. It's a pity the soundbox is missing... 

[triskel]

... the cop looking to give some of the young bucks a good thrashing is all the more puzzling, assuming this isn't all artistic liberty at work.

Coincidentally, after Paul reviving this old thread because of an early melodeon on eBay, another friend posted a link to a bunch of early film clips from New York on facebook, and if you watch the (similarly dressed) policeman walking up the street at 1.15 you'll see him whip out his nightstick and wave it around (presumably to demonstrate his "authority") until he disappears out of shot at 1.24, so perhaps it was seen as typical behaviour for New York cops...