A friend from the local session borrowed me one of his anglo concertinas. It was made by Juergen Suttner and carries serial #35 (or 36).
What an amazing little instrument. Being a flute and pipes player, I certainly know the biggest issue in session: staying in tune. But no problem with the concertina. You hit the button, and the sound comes and is in tune. Amazing.
Now I’m going to have to figure out how to play it. 
Speaking of learning how to play it, are there any free lessons on line or a diagram of what the notes are? If there are no free lessons, which book do you recommend. I just want to be a folk music player, that’s all.
Well you have certainly started on a top of the range instrument and that is one good friend who will loan you a Suttner !!
You could try this on line free tutor to begin with and if you want to go further, Niall Vallely’s CD Rom and Frank Edgly’s tutor, although a different style, will also help.
I didn’t receive such a fine instrument, which is fine with me. The one that I received has been sitting on the shelf as a knick-knack of a major smoker. The side that was facing downward is ok but the side that was facing upwards has serious issues. There was dust in the folds/creases that looked like felt. The corner braces are seriously yellowed from cigarette smoke. I thought they were brass or gold, until I saw the hinges that were facing downward, they’re nice and shiny silver.
Does anyone have any words of advice for me? I don’t want to damage the instrument.
The C/G concertina is indeed a wonderful instrument. You might wander over to http://www.Concertina.net and see what they have to say- though it’s more about English than Anglo - paralleling perhaps the silver/wooden flute differences. There is also a lot of great stuff on www.youtube.com, including Niall Vallely, a whiz.
But easy it is not. The flute - and for most of us, the fiddle too – is just one finger for one note (except for the flute having two keys for F nat). On the Anglo for every note in every tune you have a choice of three or four patterns, limited by just the one button for the low E and one for F#. Like the grammar of English. The same notes for a specific tune, but played on different buttons and different patterns than other tunes, and sometimes a push and sometimes a draw. Very challenging. Aside from tone generation it makes the flute seem simple-minded. Hey- suggest that to the fiddlers!
No kidding. We’ve got at least five or six concertina players of varying levels of ability in town, and I tell every one of them that I think they’re insane. 
I must confess that I’ve barely played the whistle or flute in the last six months because the concertina seems simpler, once you learn the notes. I think, for me, breathing with a bellows works out better.
Ah…the button fixation!
The concertina is a fasinating instrument! What a complex little machine..
All those reeds sorted out in everyplace possible and all those button mechanisms fanned out in every direction!
I was fortunate enough to try a Tedrow on one of his latest tours for the Zephyr! What a beautiful instrument! Everything was masterfully made. Beautiful sound for such a small instrument!
Check out this vid… about Bob Tedrow and the concertina!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCcMJ-4LODw
Introducing the Zephyr http://hmi.homewood.net/zephyr/
Nate
All those patterns to learn and their possibilities, though…the permutations seem endless. So, I find the idea intimidating, but at the same time I have this morbid admiration for 'tina players.