1829 a dealer named Johann Willhelm Glier
invented an instrument he called the 'mouth organ' in
Klingenthal/Saxony and the Glier Brothers began to manufacture the
instrument.
From this point - as we know by now - more than 100 harmonica manufacturers grew up in the area around Klingenthal.
Illustration 1 Harmonica of 1850
Typical -ivory mouthpiece with fold out covers.
Illustration2 An engraving of a Seydel harmonica
around 1880
An engraving of a Seydel harmonica
around 1880 - also with an ivory mouthpiece.
Up to 1900 harmonicas had only simple gravures, mostly just the company name.
You can recognise models from before 1880 by their plain cover plates.
At C.A.Seydel Söhne, we still use some of the techniques that the craftsmen used at that time.