Hello fine people. I am wondering if there is a way or reference on how to tell when a harmonica was made 60s 50s, Pre WWII, etc. Is there anything to help with the Boxes it comes in? Looking at a Marine Band that claims to be pre-war, but I do not know how to tell.
Hi MrNrdy,
in regard to older instruments it can be difficult to tell, as they don’t have serial numbers or other identifying markings. People have claimed that if the central medal depicted on the bottom cover (held by two hands) contains a star of David, then it’s pre-war. This is based on the assumption that the nazis would have banned a Jewish symbol. However, Martin Häffner from the Harmonica museum disputes this argument. If you could post a photo (also of the box), we may be able to provide more information,
regards
Steve
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Thank you, Steve,
Interesting about the Star of David. I found some notes that the Star was around till 1937, but I have not confirmed that yet, This one does not seem to have that. Attached are a couple of photos of Harmonica and Box.
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This looks to me like a Marine Band from the 1960s or 1970s, but I may be wrong. The box looks as if it could could conceivably be pre-war, but it’s in surprisingly good condition if it’s that old. Hohner moved to Richmond VA from Hicksville NY in 1982, so it clearly pre-dates the move. Pat Missin has documented the various stages in the development of the Marine Band in great detail here:
https://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q38.html
If you browse through this page you may find some more identifying features.
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Thank you, Steve, I wondered about the condition of it. Thanks for the link looks like he has done his homework.
Yeah, Pat Missin is the man for both technical information and historical overview. His site is extremely informative and wide ranging.
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To Steve, or whomever: It strikes me as very odd, and certainly beyond coincidence, that the Star of David would disappear just when the National Socialists are taking over Germany. It strikes me as a survival move by Hohner. If the fellow from the Hohner Museum does believe it was just coincidence, does he have an alternate theory on why this happened? Thanks.
The fellow from the German Harmonica Museum is Martin Häffner, a serious historian who has spent his entire working life researching the reed instrument industry. Most observers have long assumed the Star of David was removed pre WW2 in deference to Nazi anti semitism, but Martin cites an interview he conducted with the former master craftsman in the department responsible for die stamping the covers, who told him that the six pointed star was removed from the stamping tool in the early 1970s following complaints from Arab customers. I’ve asked him to try to find clear evidence of instruments from the period 1933 - 45 which do have the star. There certainly appear to be harmonicas from post WW2 production with this feature.
Thanks awfully for your response Steve. In a previous response you suggested that we go to Pat Missin’s site for this info. Pat says the removal of the six-sided star happened around 1937 and that perhaps some of the pre-war covers with stars from inventory made it into circulation on harps built after the war, but nowhere did he say this happened into the 1970s. aka The Hicksville Era. So the tale Herr Haffner is telling just doesn’t stack up for me. it’s just difficult to believe that the rise of the National Socialists and the removal of Hohner’s six-sided star could be purely coincidental - and not an effort by Hohner to prevent drawing unwanted attention from the Nazis via an association with the symbol of Judaism.
Please don’t be patronising, Martin Häffner is not telling a tale. As I said before, he has devoted his entire working life to researching the history of the reed instrument industry and has had unique access to the complete Hohner collection of documents, production records and historic instruments in Trossingen during this time. Pat Missin is an admirable scholar but he is based in the USA and his access to the evidence is not comparable.
In response to my enquiry yesterday Martin looked in a number of original Hohner catalogues from 1935 - 1940 and says they definitively show the Hohner trademark featuring the Star of David. He has also documented the history of the Hohner company under the Nazis and revealed the extensive degree of cooperation with the regime including the use of forced labour, which didn’t make him popular locally, so he is in no way an apologist for the company. This is all part of the permanent exhibition in the Museum, which I can only recommend you to visit.
Thanks for the additional enquiries Steve.
You’re welcome. The presence or absence of the 6 pointed star is often used to “identify” harmonicas as being pre- or post WW2, for the reasons you understandably gave. Unfortunately things don’t seem to be quite that cut and dried.
Thanks Steve. The older I get, the less in this world that seems “cut & dried” unfortunately. Fortunately that provides heaps of learning opportunities. Life’s funny like that.
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