Æolina,Trumpet Call and Trumpet Organ

Images from The Alan G. Bates Harmonica Collection (3)

 Æolina,Trumpet Call and Trumpet Organ

Æolina (chord harmonica) by Lewis Zwahlen, New York City, ca. 1831

NMM 9591.  Æolina (chord harmonica) by Lewis Zwahlen, New York City, ca. 1831. This unpretentious-looking little instrument, on which one can play chords in G, D, and A, is one of the earliest harmonicas known to survive. There are sixteen brass reeds, one reed per hole, with a wood casing on the top and the reed plate exposed below. The few other surviving examples were made in Europe and none to our knowledge has an original cardboard box, which is lined, in this instance, with blue silk and carries the label, Sold at The Depository of the Arts, Bourne's, 359 Broadway, New-York. A second cardboard flip-top box (not shown) fits over the first box and has a red shoestring tie. Alan G. Bates Collection, 2000.

 The reed plate is mounted on a walnut "comb" cut with grooves that allow air to enter each of the reed chambers.

 

 Trumpet Call Harmonica by M. Hohner, Trossingen, after 1906

NMM 8293. Trumpet Call harmonica by M. Hohner, Trossingen, after 1906. The five brass horns are purely decorative. The most desired of all harmonicas by most collectors, but not particularly rare. Original box. Alan G. Bates Collection, 2000.

Trumpet Organ Harmonica by Andreas Koch, Trossingen, Germany, ca. 1920

NMM 8687. Trumpet Organ harmonica by Andreas Koch, Trossingen, Germany, ca. 1920. In this version of Koch's popular Trumpet Organ, the harmonica and its five non-functional horns are mounted in a cylinder with capped ends. Alan G. Bates Collection, 2000.

 

 Trumpet Organ Harmonica by Andreas Koch, Trossingen, ca. 1910

NMM 8748. Trumpet Organ harmonica by Andreas Koch, Trossingen, Germany, ca. 1910. Koch vied with Hohner in the production of novelty harmonicas. This "horned" model was designed to compete with Hohner's extremely popular Trumpet Call. It features a slightly more complex arrangement of the five horns than is found on Hohner's model. Ironically, the five horns are merely a facade, having no function other than being decorative. Alan G. Bates Collection, 2000.