The Excelsior accordion factory was founded in 1924 by the Brothers Archimedo, Egisto, and Roberto Pancotti in New York. The factory was called the Excelsior Manufacturing Company.
When the Pancotti brothers came from Italy to the United States, New York, they were accompanied by two Bugari brothers who were reed makers. All of them had learned the art of accordion construction when they were young in Italy. The Bugari’s were also cousins of the Pancotti’s. Upon arriving in the United States, they did not immediately have the possibility of making their own accordions, so they ended up making accordions with E. Galizi & Bro. company at 215 Canal Street. The Galizi weren’t really accordion builders, they were smugglers. They had set up a business only so they could make money laundering. Because the Galizi’s did not know how accordions were made, they hired the Pancotti brothers to make the bodies and mechanisms of the accordions. The Bugari brothers made the reeds, and Butti made the bellows.
In the end, the Pancotti and Bugari brothers saved enough money to start their own accordion production. The Pancotti’s founded the Excelsior Manufacture Company in 1924 in New York. The Bugari and Butti left Galizi at the same time.
The Excelsior brand name quickly became known in the United States, and many professionals played with it, such as Charles Magnante, Art Van Damme, and Pietro Deiro Jr. The rise of the brand continued after World War II. Americans very often put the letter A on Excelsiors to reflect the word Archimedo. At Magnante’s suggestion, Excelsior was made with wider piano keys than usual.
In the 1930s and 1940s Ragner “Raggie” Sundqvist sold accordions in Sweden under the name Raggie Special. At first Sundqvist imported Excelsior accordions from the United States, but later had his own accordion factory in Stockholm called Amerikanska Dragspelscentralen, the American Accordion Center. It seems that during World War II Sundqvist made Excelsior accordions under a license.
In order to keep the quality of the accordions high and to meet demand, the new Excelsior factory was founded in Castelfidardo, Italy, in 1946. The company was called Accordiana Melodiosa Excelsior s.p.a. The company was founded by Egisto Pancotti, who had moved back to Italy. These instruments often display the letter E, which refers to Egisto. This company was in operation until 1984.
Egisto Pancott had two sons, Mario and Edward. Mario studied business and Edward studied engineering. After the boys had grown up enough, they took over the Excelsior company in the 1950s. Mario took care of Excelsior’s business, and Edward took care of the production. Roberto Pancotti had left Excelsior in the late 1940s and founded his own Pancordion Accordion Company. At Pancordion and Excelsior worked among others John and Angelo Magnante (brothers Charles Magnante) and Natale Giufridda (brother of Pietro Frossini). Natale Giufridda made bass mechanisms.
Archimedo Pancotti founded Acme Accordions Co. located on 43 West 16th Street in New York.
Between 1985 and 2003, the Exelsior brand name was produced by CEMEX, which stands for Compagnia Elettro Musicale Excelsior s.r.l. In 2003, Exelsior became a brand owned by Pigini. The name of the company was changed to Excelsior s.r.l. However, it was not until 2006 that Cemex’s website became produced by Pigini. Excelsior’s other brand names are Excelsiola and Accordiana.
Disclaimer: The years may contain inaccuracies, especially for the 21st century.
Sources
- https://acordeon-anipas.blogspot.com/2015/04/accordion-excelsior-manufacturing.html (21.8.2020)
- Italian accordion manufacturers 1850–2003 list
- http://www.accordionlinks.com/manufacturer.html (21.8.2020)
- Internet Archives, with different keywords, such as www.excelsior-accordions.it and www.excelsior-accordions.com (21.8.2020)
- The Newsletter of the San Francisco Accordion Club. February 2006. https://www.sfaccordionclub.com/newsletter/BAAC_Feb_2006_NL.pdf (1.9.2020)