G'day Musicman,If the whole instrument is consistently about ¬ tone high it is very likely the original pitch. Concert pitch has been up and down over the years and I have a c. 1930s Wheatstone catalogue where they offer a choice of 5 different concert pitches (something like: Philharmonic, Old Philharmonic, Continental, New Concert Pitch and "Common Pitch" - just in tune with itself ... usuually on bottom line anglos).
Many of these old pitches were higher than current A = 440 Hz and free reed repairers, here in Australia, often refer to them generically as "Old High Pitch" , so Mountain Tyme 's question "How could a box get "out of tune" and still be "in tune"?" is answered that it didn't; it was made that way.
Murray's methods of retuning are both valid, but not for the fainthearted. A dab of solder is only needed when a radical drop in pitch is needed and lightly filing the bottom end will lower pitch but any variation will alter the tonality, the balance of harmonics across the reed, and it may not be for the better! What is needed is a very smooth reduction of material that does not weaken the reed and does not concentrate vibrations in one area.
I have had radical (key) changes wrought in Anglos, but by (or in consultation with) an expert repairer and maker, Richard Evans, in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. One box re-pitched in D/G had a magnificent tone for such a low pitch, unfortunately it was subsequently stolen... I have since built up another D/G, without the benefit of Richard's hand-made new reeds, and it is quite nice, but not in the league of the stolen one (gently sobs in the background ...).
All this may not help Musicman ... I'm inclined to think that a full disassembly (and inevitable general checkup and minor clean and make good) plus work on 96 separate reeds, if the instrument is an English System - or even 70 to 80 reeds if it is a full-blown Anglo-chromatic, is probably worth $350. Certainly, running the risk of wrecking a classic instrument isn't worth the saving.
Regards,
Bob Bolton