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Author Topic: Liliput  (Read 4555 times)

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Rog

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Liliput
« on: October 11, 2017, 02:12:11 PM »

Can someone either point me to a thread on Liliput production history or share info on when they were produced, and why...I.e. Why so small and who played em/carried em?

Grape Ape

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2017, 02:18:11 PM »

I thought I read somewhere they were designed so small as to be portable and easily carried in the backpacks of the Hitler youth- In fact there were print ads to that effect, but I don’t remember where I found them...
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Pete Dunk

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2017, 02:22:04 PM »

Made in the 1930s only, they were designed for backpackers and walkers to carry around with them. Production ceased at the beginning of the Second World War I believe.
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Rog

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2017, 02:40:38 PM »

I thought I read somewhere they were designed so small as to be portable and easily carried in the backpacks of the Hitler youth- In fact there were print ads to that effect, but I don’t remember where I found them...
It's easy to imagine this scenario, but someone has asked me about them and I don't want to peddle any myths...

Grape Ape

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2017, 02:48:47 PM »

I have definitely seen the ads I describe- I will try to find one and post it but it will have to wait and probably result in my being placed on a watch list...
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AnnC

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2017, 03:46:11 PM »

I couldn't say for sure about the Lilliputs but on the inside of the old wooden case for a similar size Galotta melodeon there is a label saying " Sportmodell" as well as a little metal 'Heil' badge and a friend who spent some time in Germany shortly after WW11 sometimes saw small melodeons in hikers rucksacks  (:) ...  so they could have been marketed as suitable for both walkers and 'youth groups'.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2017, 03:50:10 PM by AnnC »
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 3 lovely Liliputs, a Preciosa, a Pokerwork & a C/G Anglo concertina :D

Rog

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2017, 05:42:13 PM »

Well on the several I've worked on they all seem to have field grey straps and one also had a neat little field grey case, so it fits as a 1930s German rambler's companion.

Six Stars

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2017, 07:59:45 PM »

Hi, my Lilliput has a serial number on the bottom, Hohner still has many of the records. If you let them know the serial number and send a payment of about 20 Euros (this may, of course, have increased with Brexit imminent) they will send you a certificate through the post (I used Transferwise to do the deal). Mine tells me that my Lilliput was shipped on 4th November 1935 to a music shop called Kristen in Duisberg - it still bears a tiny metal plate for this company.

The guy I was in contact with at Hohner is Ralf Tritschler: rtritschler@hohner.de

I seem to remember that I got hold of his e-mail address by looking at the Hohner parent company website in Germany (there is an English version). http://www.hohner.de/en

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triskel

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2017, 04:07:52 AM »

According to the table of models in "History Unfolds! - 100 Years of Hohner Accordions in Pictures" the Liliput was in production from 1935 until 1940, and the Preciosa from 1935 until 1943, and it is stated in that book that they were "miniature instruments designed to be taken on hiking, camping and canoeing trips", whilst the Liliput is still listed in my September 1941 French Hohner catalogue, as being the accordion for campers, canoeists, mountaineers, etc.
 
The heading for them in my 1937 German Hohner catalogue ("Die Freude des Sportlers") translates as "The joy of the athlete" - but that starts to sound less innocent when you realise that such activities as those previously listed were commonly organised by a Nazi organisation named "Kraft durch Freude" ("Strength Through Joy").

Also, "Physical education in the NAZI view was perhaps the most important parts of the German school child's day. Hitler increased the time for physical training to 2 hours per day, rather than the customary 2 hours per week before the NAZI take over." [Koch, H. W. - The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development 1922-1945. Stein and Day: New York, 1975. p. 163.], and pupil report cards gave prominance to sports and physical education over academic subjects.

Roger Hare

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2017, 06:25:23 AM »

...on the inside of the old wooden case for a similar size Galotta melodeon there is a label saying " Sportmodell"...

Does anyone know if the word "Sportmodell" is a generic term for such small instruments,
or whether it is a specific Galotta model?

Thank you.

Roger.
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JD

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2017, 08:38:20 AM »

This thread sparked a memory of a picture of a camper playing a small melodeon. I found this with a Google search. I think it's a Preciosa. It's difficult to tell from the black-and-white image but it might have a gold finish. I don't know that Hohner used another finish on this model that would look like this in B&W.
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Nick Collis Bird

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2017, 10:12:51 AM »

Rog,
Packed in with my Lilliput was a music book “The Hebling System” inside is a picture of a little girls procession all dressed in communion white. They are playing various boxes and mostly small so they could carry and play them. The photo is very much 1930’s and does appear to be “third Reich” Sp?
I’ll show it to you when you’ve finished Steam Punking.
By the way on the inside of the case lid there are some tune titles all crossed out. I can’t make them out, but am convinced there’s “ Horst Wessel “ under the scribbles there.
Wouldn’t it be great if boxes could tell you their complete history. A bit like the Organette ,what a history it must have had and still ongoing.
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Rog

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2017, 11:00:23 AM »

Ha, Nick. Yes I was looking at videos of the Horst Wessel yesterday. A chilling anthem if ever there was one...

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2017, 11:13:57 AM »

According to the table of models in "History Unfolds! - 100 Years of Hohner Accordions in Pictures" the Liliput was in production from 1935 until 1940....

Given the relatively short time for which they were produced, I'm surprised that there are, even now, so many of them still about (I have two). Though melodeons are usually cherished, kept and not generally considered disposable items, Hohner must have turned out quite a lot. Is there any figure on how many in total were made?
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Malcolm Clapp

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2017, 11:55:48 AM »

This thread sparked a memory of a picture of a camper playing a small melodeon. I found this with a Google search. I think it's a Preciosa. It's difficult to tell from the black-and-white image but it might have a gold finish. I don't know that Hohner used another finish on this model that would look like this in B&W.

Could be white celluloid; I have seen one, with red trim iirc.
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Re: Liliput
« Reply #16 on: October 12, 2017, 11:57:02 AM »


Packed in with my Lilliput was a music book “The Hebling System” ..


  (:) there were two of those in the case with the Liliput from Bulgaria, one of them a tutor book the other a collection of songs and tunes published between 1921 and 1933 and on the back advertisements for the new 1934-35 publications, they had been sold from a music shop at 23 Westkotterstrasse, Wuppertal. The one from Germany had three booklets of Ländler tunes with it, no dates I can see but all priced at Rm. 2 each.
 
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On the bracing North Yorkshire Coast :D

 You hum it pet.......I'll play it......but not necessarily in the same key 🎶😊
 3 lovely Liliputs, a Preciosa, a Pokerwork & a C/G Anglo concertina :D

triskel

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #17 on: October 12, 2017, 12:11:57 PM »

...on the inside of the old wooden case for a similar size Galotta melodeon there is a label saying " Sportmodell"...

Does anyone know if the word "Sportmodell" is a generic term for such small instruments,
or whether it is a specific Galotta model?

It does seem to have become a generic term for these miniature Club Models (though Hohner never used it as such), and also for mini 2-row and piano accordions, especially amongst the Klingenthal makers (like G. A. Schlott = Galotta) who often used it in their catalogues.

triskel

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #18 on: October 12, 2017, 12:29:31 PM »

This thread sparked a memory of a picture of a camper playing a small melodeon. I found this with a Google search. I think it's a Preciosa. It's difficult to tell from the black-and-white image but it might have a gold finish. I don't know that Hohner used another finish on this model that would look like this in B&W.

Could be white celluloid; I have seen one, with red trim iirc.

I've also seen a Preciosa in white with black trim, whilst I've seen that photo before too - in a late-1930's copy of Accordion Times.

JD

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Re: Liliput
« Reply #19 on: October 12, 2017, 01:24:57 PM »


Could be white celluloid; I have seen one, with red trim iirc.

I've also seen a Preciosa in white with black trim, whilst I've seen that photo before too - in a late-1930's copy of Accordion Times.

You learn something every day. I've seen miniature piano accordions in white but never a melodeon.
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