19th September, 2019
Hi there Riff Raffers,
Thought you may be interested in having a gander at the Mouth Organs sold by Albert & Son in Western Australia in 1925. No connection with J Albert & Son of Sydney. Do you have any of these? Maybe the short lived Baby Boomerangs? How short lived they were I’m not too sure as they were given away free with different items in 1934-a toy that fired a boomerang and a book titled 400 Ways To Get Rich were examples advertised in newspapers of the day. I have the more common Tiny. Never seen a Koala of the mouth harp kind-this would be a find. Interesting to see the Boomerang Grand sold with replacement reeds. I always wondered about the interchangeable parts branding. Hohner’s Blow With Ease has to be one of the worst monikers! Probably more appropriate for tissues. 
Mr Henry Bernard Albert proprietor of the Perth store was born in Wuerzburg, Bavaria in 1870 to a book selling family. As a young man he migrated to Victoria, Australia to seek his fortune mining gold. Not sure if he found any nuggets, but he found a bride (Eleanor de Fides) and they crossed the Nullarbor to settle in Western Australia. In 1908 he established a book selling and music store in Perth originally at the Central Arcade before moving to the premises in Murray street. Henry had one son (Norman) and three daughters (Mrs L E Pearce, Thelma & Melba).
Ch SD
PS: A couple of recent changes and additions have been made to the Aussie Models-Timeline.
The whole history of the Hohner chromatic is really weird. The 260 first appeared in Hohner catalogues and the music press around 1911. Then it vanished for more than a decade and finally pops up in catalogues around 1923, with the music trade publications describing it as a new instrument. Then a few years later still, the patent for it gets published. It’s all very odd.
Please send me your report / keep me up to date!!!
By the 1930s, it was also available in Solo Tuning. However, that was different to how a 10-hole Solo chromatic would be set up now. Hole 4 and upwards were tuned like the Regular Tuning. 1, 2 and 3 blow were tuned E, G and C, the draw notes tuned F, A and B, with the slide raising each by a semitone.
Cheers and Guinness frothies to all participants, in particular to Pat Missin (& wife) whose efforts went way beyond the call of duty, John Whiteman, Martin Haffner & Mark Weber. In finishing, how and when didn’t tell us what and where, but it was who and what that told us when and where. Ch 
Recently Doug Dawson contacted me about the article on the ‘Cobber’ tin. He kindly sent photos of other Australian harps from his extensive collection, including this box (no harp), ‘The Metropole’. With a little research and the assistance of Pat Missin on the possible identification of the maker I concluded more than likely it was a product of the Hotel Metropole in Sydney. The Hotel was advertised in 1929 as the largest and most modern in Australia.
With a peek inside the box the CHA logo and made in Saxony indicated to Pat that it was probably manufactured by C A Herold. Not a lot is known of C A Herold (Carl Anton) who operated from about 1919 to 1939.
The Hotel Metropole was built by the Australian Coffee Palace Company for £150,000 in 1890. The grand building fronted Young, Bent and Phillip streets. You were greeted at the foyer with amazing stained glass windows and mosaic tiled floors. Fitted with electric lighting and lavish furnishings there were 260 guest rooms, several dining rooms and probably a gift shop selling ‘The Metropole’ mouth organs. The roof top promenade had exquisite panoramic views of Sydney town and the heads. Prominent International visitors who registered at the hotel included Rudyard Kipling and Jack London. Sadly in 1969 the hotel was closed and demolished.
Belmar records in Altona have a fabulous new sessions release by Mon Shelford. Mon was discovered busking on Sydney road by a Belmar house musician. Here was my review. How about this for a first up effort? Mon Shelford’s debut album is hotter than a fire cracker. Her vocals resonate in every fibre of your being. A mix of well crafted originals and uniquely arranged classics. For you Riff Raffers a wee bit of harp by Rob Price on the melodic ‘Walking On Eggshells’. Out now at 
A comeback of sorts to radio last week with a once a month (second Tuesday) Huff ‘n’ Puff segment 8:00am-9:00am (AEST) on Peej’s The Imaginary Friends Show.
A new post on Soundcloud spotlighting the harp of the late Paul Langford Lever (next month’s feature article) fronting the progressive rock band 
Here we go again a track back (or is that a back track) to the Crackajack. Further evidence the manufacturer was F A Rauner. Just a spelling difference for the Straylian market, perhaps. Registered number 28285 appears in a magnificently presented PDF file entitled, ‘A Collection Of Early Box Art 1890-1940’ by John Whiteman. A coffee table book is in the making, but there won’t be attached foldaway legs for a coffee book that doubles as a coffee table (Kramer invention-Seinfeld episode). John is from San Diego California and is one of the biggest collectors in the world. He provides an invaluable online resource of his and other collector’s harmonicas. See here at 
Having observed the #28285 an email was shot to world renowned harp historian Pat Missin who responded with a page from a 1915 Rauner catalogue displaying their Cracker Jack models and blow me down, would you believe it, with registration #28285. Here’s Pat’s take on the matter at hand, 
New music out now! On 
Mat Black, an alternative country singer-songwriter from Melbourne town, has followed on from his excellent 2017 EP ‘One Man Ghost Town’ with a high quality single entitled ‘Diamond Mine’. T
Hey Barren Spinsters, you guys never fail to deliver! I’m blown away by your new single ‘Hey Ruth’, which has a nice return of the ‘Gob Iron’. Hey Punters gratify your Toby Jugs with a listen. Out Now on all good and bad streaming platforms. I look forward to the release of the long play.
Then Federal Attorney General Mr. J.G. Latham proclaimed that,
In the 1930’s with the proliferation of mouth organ bands Hohner once again attempted to land a foot hold in the Australian market. They would promote the ‘Auto Valve Harp’ as an Australian model even though it had been sold internationally since 1910. Ray Grieve, Australian Mouth Organ historian, had been informed of this by Kurt Jacob who was sent ‘Down Under’ as Hohner’s representative to promote their products. Ray stated that,
In 1938 there was a Hohner model only sold in Australia under the banner of ‘Auto Valve’-branded the ‘Auto Valve Vamper’, which could be purchased for three shillings at all good and bad music stores. It was a ten hole twenty reed diatonic model. The name is an oxymoron as the Auto Valve Harp is a Knittlinger instrument and the Vamper a Richter model. I’ll let Pat Missin, world authority on all things relating to the first instrument played in outer space take over, 
The term ‘Vamping’ and its origin is intriguing for the author. My idea of vamping was a chordal chugging arrangement. Could it/did it evolve from the word Vampire? There is sucking involved in playing! Again I’ll hand over to Pat Missin for his take on vamping, 
In my copy of the 1926 ‘Boomerang’ mouth organ instructional booklet, it outlines that when playing a chord accompaniment (vamp) you take the tongue off the three holes being blocked (to play the single note on the fourth hole) and then place the tongue back on and off again. 
In a follow up he provides further detail, 
The Auto Valve Vamper was a fair dinkum Aussie harp, but with the onset of the second world war (sorry I mentioned the war, but I think I may have got away with it) it was gone before it arrived. After the war Hohner would eventually establish itself in the Australian Mouth Organ market with their high quality Chromatics and also the ‘Echo Super Vamper’ (Hohner’s ‘Marine Band’ stamped differently for Australia and UK markets).
The first post war shipment in 1949 that reached the shores of ‘Terres Australis’ included a ten hole vamper mouth organ sold by J Madgwick & Co of Pitt street Sydney as the ‘Echo’. Interestingly Harry Landis’ music store in Elizabeth street Sydney of the same year advertised the twenty eight reed tremolo harp as the super-vamper. By 1952 the ten hole ‘Echo’ vamper transformed into the ‘Echo Super Vamper’ and quickly became a popular acquisition for those looking for a precision vamper. I had always wondered why the twelve hole model that appeared years later in an orange box wasn’t named the ‘Super Vamper’. One would have presumed the larger size would have been superior to the smaller. This model is identical to the Marine Band 364 which became popular after Sonny Boy Williamson II produced amazing sounds from the harp. Not sure why it was marketed this way, perhaps it was due to our predilection for the nomenclature (Vamper), which certainly had a resonance down under and sales would reflect their popularity. 
Pat Missin suggests,
1890’s-
TM=Trademarked. First named=harmonica maker followed by music house. Unless otherwise stated.
This research was a result of searching for the maker of Crackajack mouth organs (see ‘
PM- I’d already written a little about M. Johs. Richter on my website. On the same day that he trademarked “Kookaburra”, he also registered the same “Coo-Ee”. I doubt that these are connected with the later models of the same names, as his involvement with harmonica making seems to have been quite brief. He was mostly known for stringed instruments. Carl Essbach registered the name “The Larrikin” in 1900, for a variety of things including harmonicas. This was presumably for the Australian market, but I don’t recall any harmonicas with this name. Also that year, W.H. Paling of Sydney in conjunction with Glaser of Berlin registered the name “The Bushman” specifically for harmonicas. Again, don’t recall hearing of those.
Hohner registered a bunch of Australian-flavoured TMs, including “Century Advance Australia” (1900), ” Federation Souvenir, Advance Australia”, “Geebung” and “Corroboree” (1901) and ” Young Australia” (1912). The latter seems to have been their best seller Down Under.
RG- Some notes on Pat’s brilliant research: There was a Bushman available in Australia in the 1920s and always sold alongside of the English Topnotcher. (see my “Boomerangs & Crackajacks” book P. 60). It was never advertised as an ‘Australian’ brand. Would seem that Hohner’s Geebung and Corroboree never went into production. I couldn’t find any mention in old Hohner catalogues. And if so Kurt would have definitely mentioned this to me. Very likely that Bauer and Krause made the Cobber. Couldn’t find any info on this at all from either Jackson or McDonald descendants. Would be interesting to know just how many of these actually went into production.
RG- Pat must be right regarding 1900 being the default date for the “Crackamonic”. It was marketed briefly from around 1938 – I had never seen one until the photo you sent. Most of the old Australian players were using diatonics and considered the Hohner as the superior chromatic anyway (Larry Adler had a lot to do with that).
Articles have already featured Crackajack & Cobber Mouth organs. Waiting in the wings W F Coxon’s Lyrebird, Hohner’s Auto Valve Vamper, Paling’s Topnotcher and Frank’s Boomerang.
5/3/2019- New addition ‘The Bugler’ sold by William John Deane and sons from 1902 to about 1909. Advertised as Deane’s patent and Sydney is stamped on the cover plate. Appears that it’s an Australian Mouth Organ although not an Aussie brand name, so to speak. Interesting to note that William Deane married Pauline Albert in 1896 (Jacques’ daughter and Frank’s sister). So maybe it’s a Seydel Mouth Organ because of the Albert’s/ Boomerang connection.
23/3/2019- New addition the P C Spouse ‘Champion Series’ on a F A Bohm ‘World’s Fame’ mouth organ for Mick Simmons of George Street, Haymarket Sydney. More information in Ray Grieve’s upcoming third book on the history of mouth organs in Australia. P C (Percival) Spouse was Australian Mouth Organ champion in 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1935. Mick Simmons also had a chromatic brand ‘The Federal Band’ stamped on the cover plate of a Johann Schunk ‘Chromatigrand’.
Rozella’s came in a few different formats and I’ve included the Bess O’ Th’ Barn models sold by A P Sykes as they appear to have only been sold in Australia. The other addition is The Kangaroo, made in Switzerland mouth organ-circa 1920. An article on this will be out before the end of the year.
Recently I acquired somewhat fortuitously, a ‘Cobber’ harmonica tin. The top of this once colourful tin has a three dimensional graphic of the harmonica that should lie within. However the harp inside wasn’t a ‘Cobber’ and it’s name had been incorrectly identified by the seller (maybe a Dawg Blawg down the line). They advertised it as ‘harmonica with tin’ with the emphasis squarely placed on the harmonica. I believe the vendor had no knowledge of the container’s cultural significance as there was not a mention of the ‘Cobber’ brand name. The metal tin wasn’t in prestigious condition, but in any condition it was an important historical discovery. Then there was the question of restoration. Patina can be an endearing feature as it displays its age and heritage. To destroy the patina could decrease it’s value and could put off would be collectors. I put the question to a respectable restorer and an estimate of a ‘sympathetic’ restoration was quoted at between two hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars. The tin is an antique and I have never set eyes on another one. So for the time being, it will be displayed as is.
Four different models of ‘Cobber’ harmonicas were sold in Australia from 1912 to 1920 by jobbers (wholesalers), ‘Jackson & MacDonald’ of Sydney. Samuel Jackson and David MacDonald did their apprenticeship as employees of ‘Allan & Co’ in Melbourne, who had great success selling their own ‘Crackajack’ brand of harmonicas. Both gentleman were great friends and expert rifleman at the ‘Mosman Rifle Club’. Initially, ‘Jackson & MacDonald’ had the franchise for ‘Edison Phonographs’. Later they would find enormous success manufacturing their own brand of talking boxes (gramophones), the ‘Rexonola’. Their wooden cabinets later evolved into speaker boxes that would replace the sound horn. ‘The Gloucester Advocate’ on Friday 3rd May, 1929 reported where the timber for the cabinets was sourced: 
These days their ‘Cobber’ harmonicas are as rare as rocking horse poo. In a 2007 article entitled, ‘Hum Along’, business journalist James Cockington of ‘The Sydney Herald’ suggested that, 
Samuel Jackson was incredibly skilled at promoting the harmonica. A marketing skill he employed with some success was either publishing a weekly ‘Cobber’ limerick or by surreptitiously placing a headline with a ‘Cobber’ twist in Sydney’s, ‘The Sunday Sun’.
Ray Grieve had it on good authority (Kurt Jacob) that F A Bohm were the likely culprits. However, Ray had found indisputable evidence hard to come by. A book on the history of Allans had made no mention of their harmonica line and descendants of the Allan family had no knowledge either. Pat had assumed it was Seydel as the big harmonica collectors of the world had labelled them such. One collector from San Diego, John Whiteman had them listed in his comprehensive anthology this way. Pat asked John if he could backtrack on how this information was derived. John obliged, but found no evidence for this decision.
I decided to go surfing, nothing like an early morning surf down on the Mornington Peninsula at the breaks of Gunnamatta. No it wasn’t that type of surf it was of the information highway and would you believe it I discovered the patent for the name ‘Crackajack’ in of all places a supplement to the Western Australian Government Gazette of 1903. This was no nugget, but as this was Allan’s personal Trademark it was unlikely these harmonicas would have been made by Seydel as they held all the Trademarks for Albert’s ‘Boomerang’. We delved further into Ray’s book, ‘Boomerangs & Crackajacks’. There was the ‘Bonzer’, a ‘Perla’ and the ‘Rozella’. Nellie Collier had mentioned the ‘Bonzer’ to Ray. He discovered an advertisement for the ‘Bonzer’, but no other information presented itself and Pat couldn’t identify any trademarks either. It was the same result for the ‘Perla’. The ‘Rozella’s’ cover plate was of some interest and especially alongside a photograph of a 1927 ‘Crackajack Junior’ which I had forwarded to Pat. Could this be the lead we were after. He 
Having determined that collecting vintage/antique harmonicas was confined to my past why did I shell out twenty bucks on another harmonica that didn’t even have its original box. Their worth more in their original packaging.
This model is named ‘Up To Date’, patent applied for and the M. Hohner signature appear on one of the cover plates. Apparently Hohner produced more than a dozen ‘Up To Date’ models. I believe it is a twenty hole non-octave harp with a segmented comb. Hohner produced these to take advantage of the belief in the market place that the octave harp had a superior tone. It had the appearance, but not the cost of its octave cousin. The comb is a large block of pear wood or maybe peach, perhaps this could help identify when it was manufactured. The key of ‘D’ is embossed on the cover plate. Is this a clue as embossing is earlier than engraving? With the patent applied for inscription could it be as early as 1895 before the 1896 patent of the Marine Band? Without the ability to carbon date I will set about trying to determine how old the mouth harp is. Information is limited and it won’t be an exact science, but with some ‘nouse’ in regards to the Hohner Trademark I will take a closer look through my magnifying glass. My eyes are not what they used to be.
The reverse plate displays the Hohner Trademark. There is a small six pointed star in the circle. A larger star would mean it was of a later vintage. The star was removed with the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930’s, although it wasn’t the Star Of David. The six points on the star represents Matthias Hohner’s six sons who were running the business at the turn of the twentieth century. It thus pre dates WWII. Another give away of the age was the ‘mouse ears’ or the double tabs on the cover plate where it’s nailed to the comb this clearly makes it before 1925. The ragged sleeve edges of the hands holding the circle date it earlier than WWI when combined with the single circles wrapped around the Wien and Philad medals. I’m not sure if this is applicable for this model as it is with the Marine Band, but there is four nails connecting the reeds to the comb and they don’t appear to be stamped.
I’m thinking that the harmonica I have collected is somewhere between 1900 and 1910. It means it’s ‘bloody’ old and it’s an antique, being over hundred years old. The harp’s history intrigues me, where has this harmonica been, whose lips have covered the plates and blown life’s breath through the chambers, were they a legend of the game? Before I become too nostalgic, how much is it worth? Still clearly what someone is prepared to pay for it, in my case twenty Australian dollars.
