I am trying to find information about this old harmonica that I have. The box it is in it an Up to Date Harmonica box, but the harmonica itself is a Marine Band. It has the hands holding the Star of David on the back cover. Would love to know what year this may be from and anything else about it. This is only allowing me to attach one photo, so I will try to put the rest in the comments.
The text on the back of the box says “for over 68 years”. The Hohner company was founded in 1857, so the box will presumably date from later than 1925. The serial number on the front of the box is 1896 1/2 and the serial number of the regular Marine Band is 1896. Intriguing. So maybe the box does belong to this harmonica, which could possibly date from the late 1920s / early 1930s. I’ll pass this on to Martin Häffner at the museum and see if he has any thoughts.
Very interesting! Thank you for the insight!
Thanks Denis, Pat is as usual reliable source of information!
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So according to Pat Missin’s website, the 1896 1/2 catalogue number denotes an octave tuned instrument, apparently dating from pre WW1 (he doesn’t mention a year for this exact model).