My ~1937 Hohner Piccolo

[jim]

Here's what a collector from St.Petersburg sent me:
Hohner Piccolo, I would date it around 1937 (Star of David still present, but the covers are already steel). UNPLAYED (the wood is new, and it obviously has never been opened).


The reedplates, however, showed signs of strange corrosion adding up as small lumps on the metal:


I cleaned it with mild lemon acid, and the picture turned real weird:


Are the reeds (protecting??) the metal inside?
I tried to file down the corrosion, and the metal inside is white. Filed the brass part a bit - the metal is white too. Leaves graphite-like traces on paper. Is it brass-plated LEAD??

[dddeon]

Do you think that the reedplate might be aluminum?

The corrosion in the picture looks like aluminum corrosion to me and it could make a black mark, like graphite.

I highly doubt that the plate is made of lead. Lead is too soft.

PS - Smojoe knows alot about metallurgy.

[Smojoe]

This looks like aluminum corrosion to me but it could also be the zinc leeching out of the brass. 1937 wouldn't be correct on the date though. The 1937 appears in the Paris stamping but means nothing as to age. 1896 is stamped on Marine Bands, but that doesn't mean they were built in 1896. The wood is stained red and I suspect late 40s, early 50s. Packing something made of brass that long  WITH other metals touching it (especially steel), without a liberal coating of cosmolene, grease or wax will show this type of corrosion. Ammunition, gun parts, old cigarette lighters, knives.

Covers WERE nickel plated steel. They were always steel. These are stamped Fabrique en Allemagne. This means the harp is Bavarian built.

smo-joe

[elkriverharmonicas]

Smo Joe is right about the dates being meaningless, look at the dates on the present day Marine Band, for instance, but think is probably one of only two cases I've seen where the date actually means something. Hohner got rid of the star in 1937, I've always thought that somebody in power noticed the star during the Paris Exhibition, where, by chance the Third Reich and Soviet Russia booths were next to each other and it turned into this big Hitler/Stalin pissing match... in other words, the high ups in the Reich were paying attention.

I used to have an Unsere Lieblinge with a star and a Paris 1937 stamp. I would presume this also was one of the last made with the star.

[jim]

I too thought of zinc... But  then I thought it would be a weird choice for reedplates too! AFAIK, zinc is not the healthiest metal.
I'm pretty sure about the date - here are the things that suggest and prove that:
1)the star - it disappeared in the end of 1937, and I doubt anyone would risk their life stamping the prohibited symbol on a harp in the 40's...
2)the medal - a 1936 harmonica can't have a 1937 medal! So taking into account point 1), it is exactly 1937.
3)I know the man I bought it from, and it was his grand-dad who started collecting them, so it's not a war trophy, but a pre-war purchase.

Nevertheless, it's not yet clear - it it playable or not? I mean, if it is made from a toxic metal, then probably not. Other than those spots of corrosion, it's really a new out-of-the-box 70 years old harp

[jim]

Dave,
please tell me what to use to seal the comb. I've got another 1937 harmonica coming this week - this time a MB. A rare odball, judging by the cover design.

[elkriverharmonicas]

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=8408

That's what I use. Avoid beeswax.

[Smojoe]

Jim, jim, jim, it isn't that the reedplate is MADE from zinc. Zinc is one of the two major components IN brass. Brasses are combinations of copper & zinc and other trace elements.

Second: The covers could have been stamped in 1937 but that doesn't mean the harp is FROM 1937. There were barrels of parts sitting around for years while Hohner made gyrocompass parts.

Notice I said 'could'. This could very well be an old harp. What 'I' was saying was that stamps (alone) don't tell us anything.

Conclusion: not disputing anything you say. Just bringing up possibilities.

smo-joe

[jim]

Thanks smo-joe! Will the decay continue, or as you said it was only initiated by the presence of other metals nearby?

[elkriverharmonicas]

Let it sit for another 70 years without playing it yes. I think you'll be OK in the meantime. That about right, Joe?

[Smojoe]

That's right Dave. Once you get some oil into the pores of the metal, that will all cease. After cleaning the metal, you could rub it with your hands and that alone will stop most of it. Just like handling old rusty tools. Sooner or later they get this brown haze/patina and don't rust further.
'I' can't do it because I am alkaline. 87.5% of the public are acetic. I'm in the 12.5%. I actually take the bluing right of'n a gun by handling it. So I don't handle anyone else's stuff.

smo-joe

[jim]

Can you tell more about that alkaline vs. acetic thing? I never heard of that before, and it sounds extremely interesting!!

[elkriverharmonicas]

Just like handling old rusty tools. Sooner or later they get this brown haze/patina and don't rust further.

In the days of old when knights were bold, that's exactly what you're "knight in shining armor" would have looked like. They let suits of armor surface rust, pretty much for the reason Joe mentioned.


This is interesting, I found a third harmonica with the 1937 Paris medal on the trademark AND a prewar star. It's the Echo 60 C/G combo I mentioned I was starting in the "My Little Tremolo" thread. I noticed that last night when I was working on it.

[jim]

maybe those were the very last prewar/WW II hohners produced?

[elkriverharmonicas]

That's my theory anyway. I think they got rid of the star covers in the late 1930s. But I know exactly what Joe is talking about and he's right. During the war, Hohner made war materials, just like Ford switched to tanks and stuff here. Joe mentioned gyroscope parts, I had heard they made detonators for bombs and artillery. Maybe both, I don't know.

The Echo, by the way, is larger than I guessed. I counted the holes, it's an Echo 96.