jnorem
156 posts
Apr 11, 2014
9:06 PM
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My wife collects things, and a lot of what she collects are WWII artifacts. She has some of Hitler's cutlery from his house, called the Wolf's Den. Lately she's been getting a lot of German army stuff found in what was then the western front of the Third Reich. Today she got this harmonica, said to be found near an old battleground in Latvia. She only got it because her husband is a harp player.
There's something very interesting about this dirty, rusty, rotted old harmonica. Here are the photos. The top:
Bottom:
Back:
Front:
(or is it the other way around?)
Another photo of the bottom cover plate:
It's hard to make out, but I see a scroll engraved there, see it? I wonder what kind of harmonica this is/was.
Can you spot the interesting detail on this old harp?
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Call me J
Last Edited by jnorem on Apr 11, 2014 9:09 PM
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STME58
753 posts
Apr 11, 2014
11:13 PM
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I can see the scroll in the second image. There are some letters I can almost make out. Try lighting it at a steep angle so the bumps cast shadows and taking a photo like the second one, the put the image in photoshop and do an auto color correction and see if you can get the letters to be legible. I think I can see the letters OOSS. I don't know enough about old harps to know which brands has the letters OOSS in them.
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2chops
232 posts
Apr 12, 2014
4:36 AM
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What I see is that the cover plates are held on with screws like an SP20, rather than with nails.
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I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
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Goldbrick
406 posts
Apr 12, 2014
5:13 AM
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Gotta be bad karma owning anything Hitler touched
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Barley Nectar
354 posts
Apr 12, 2014
5:52 AM
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Steel reed plates??...BN
Last Edited by Barley Nectar on Apr 12, 2014 5:53 AM
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SuperBee
1912 posts
Apr 12, 2014
3:26 PM
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Is anything known about this harp? Apart from it apparently having rested in earth for a while, is there any information which dates it to the war period?
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STME58
754 posts
Apr 12, 2014
5:32 PM
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Are you sure it is German? I can almost make the letters in the scroll out to be USSR. I tried manipulating it a bit in photoshop and got a bit more clarity but the photo is not high enough resolution to bring out the details.
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jnorem
159 posts
Apr 12, 2014
5:42 PM
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Last Edited by jnorem on Apr 12, 2014 6:50 PM
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jnorem
160 posts
Apr 12, 2014
6:50 PM
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Yep, sorry about that. They were taken with my wife's iPhone.
During WWII, German troops were issued harmonicas, did you know that? It was a special Keiser Wilhelm model. Could it be that?
Here are some more shots of the bottom cover plate I attempted:
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Call me J
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CarlA
483 posts
Apr 12, 2014
7:08 PM
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It looks like it is set-up for overblows/overdraws OOTB.
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jnorem
161 posts
Apr 12, 2014
8:03 PM
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Nobody's spotted the odd thing about this old harp.
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Call me J
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SuperBee
1914 posts
Apr 12, 2014
9:40 PM
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I dunno...kinda hard to see enough to say what's unusual. but maybe the covers come down flush with the plates...kinda like what you get with special 20 plates on a aftermarket comb
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SuperBee
1915 posts
Apr 12, 2014
9:43 PM
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Although..,I mean I can't exactly figure it but looks like it could have had more than 10 chambers. That could be distortion from the lens though...
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JustFuya
65 posts
Apr 12, 2014
10:42 PM
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First thing I noticed is that the screw-nut position is not consistent. It might be the first one I took apart and reassembled.
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jnorem
163 posts
Apr 12, 2014
11:04 PM
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Yes, the cover screws are different. it must mean that whoever owned it took the covers off at least once. I thought it was interesting to think of a German soldier doing maintenance work on his official Nazi harmonica.
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Call me J
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Pistolcat
608 posts
Apr 13, 2014
12:21 AM
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On the second pic. The letters look like OOSBA. Or at least OSBA
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Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
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STME58
778 posts
Apr 20, 2014
3:23 PM
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I was at Harp Fest Yesterday and was looking though the catalog of a harmonica collector where I saw harps from CH Meinel-Schlossmeinel that had a similar but not identical scroll in the logo. The letters nearly visible in the photos above could be the OSSM in Schlossmeinel. Perhaps this tidbit of info will help you identify your harp.
Last Edited by STME58 on Apr 20, 2014 3:27 PM
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jnorem
176 posts
Apr 20, 2014
4:05 PM
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Remarkable, STME58. I think you're right, those letters make sense now. Thank you so much for that, it's very thoughtful of you.
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Call me J
Last Edited by jnorem on Apr 20, 2014 4:34 PM
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STME58
779 posts
Apr 21, 2014
12:32 AM
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The collector with the display at Harp fest was John Whiteman. THe book he had out for me to peruse is on line here 400 plus page book of harps
Schlossmeinel-Hugo Rauner
and just Schlossmeinel are also brands. THe scroll detail on your harp looks too small to contain more that just the word Schlossmeinel.
Last Edited by STME58 on Apr 21, 2014 12:34 AM
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