Here's the collection of accordians in Dargaville Museum.

http://www.accordions.com/kevin/n_gems.htm

At least they are not hung up with the bellows stretched out as I've seen in Palmerston North Museum and in others museums around NZ.

But I bet none in the Dargaville collection are ever played. Meanwhile the bellows and valves dry out and eventually turn to dust. And that is to say nothing about prolific insect infestation.

I have two concertinas saved from the fate that usually falls to such instruments in NZ. One is a George Case English concertina complete with 12 volumes of concertina music in. It was bought in Wellington from the daughter of a professional music hall player. It is in concert pitch - having been retuned and restored by Collin Dipper.

And the other is a Salvation Army Wheatstone Duet (once in low G) from an antique shop in Mount Eden in Auckland. It too was restored by Collin Dipper and retuned to concert pitch. It is for sale, but only to someone who is going to play it.

BTW for those in the UK, the Horniman Museum in London has a HUGE collection of accordions and concertinas - all locked away in glass cases and NEVER ever played. Par for the course with musical instruments in museums.

https://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/browse-our-collections/keyword/concertinas

====