Hohner Sporano Melodica: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This melodica was made by Hohner in Germany, late 1950s-early 1960s. It is a Soprano Melodica reed instrument, with a green plastic shell, with 15 white plastic natural key buttons, 10 black plastic accidental key buttons, and a white plastic mouthpiece. Accessioned with an original carboard container and instruction sheet. The melodica is printed on the top:

This moth-blown button style Melodica was marketed to beginner’s and grade school students. It was an easier style to play than the later melodica piano 26 model (Cat. #2009.0050.01)

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: late 150s - early 1960s
• manufacturer: Hohner
• Object Name: melodica
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: harmonica: 1 5/8 in x 2 3/8 in x 13 1/2 in; 4.1275 cm x 6.0325 cm x 34.29 cm
• Measurements: box:;
• place made: Germany
• ID Number: 1997.0064.01
• accession number: 1997.0064
• catalog number: 1997.0064.01
• Credit Line: Gift of Vera C. Glocklin
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.