Images from The Alan G. Bates Harmonica Collection Ĉolina (chord harmonica) by Lewis Zwahlen, New York City, ca. 1831 NMM 9591.  Ĉolina (chord harmonica) by Lewis Zwahlen, New York, 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.   Click arrow to continue Bates Gallery Tour Go to Bates Virtual Gallery Tour Index Go to Virtual Tour Index Go to description of The Alan G. Bates Harmonica Collection National Music Museum The University of South Dakota 414 East Clark Street Vermillion, SD   57069 ©National Music Museum, 2001, 2003 Most recent update:  October 24, 2007 You are the 23,147th visitor to this page since July 20, 2001. The University of South Dakota Return to Top of Page