Can anyone identify this Mandolin?

[tedesco29]

This Mandolin was purchased used before 1958. I cannot find a maker's name on the Mandolin. Can anyone identify it?

[bmac]

Can't suggest a brand name but I would guess that it is a typical lower level instrument. It probably had a paper label inside at one point with a department store lable or music store label or brand name no one ever heard of. The fretboard color and material doesn't mean much. The bridge seems inconsistant with the instrument so it is likely a replacement. the decor around the oval hole and around the front of the instrument is apparently a stencil or a decal and if true suggests a low end instrument.

However if in as good a condition as it appears it might be a fun intro to mandolins. But I doubt you will get much for it if you sell. the tailpiece and tuners have some value as parts. I am guessing that you would be lucky to get much over $50 for the instrument.

Maybe someone will recognise it as a rare and valuable instrument, but i doubt it.

[allenhopkins]

Pearloid fingerboard and headstock veneer suggest 1920's American. The shape seems a bit reminiscent of catalog brands such as Supertone, but I can't find one that's dead-on similar. It's sorta a cop-out to generically say "early 20th century, probably Chicago built," but that's what comes to mind.

Hope that someone will have more knowledge than I.

[Jim Garber]

Very interesting and unusual. I concur with Mr. Hopkins, but don't have much of a clue. I can check thru all my catalogs and see if i can find something related. That binding and rosette is fairly unique as is that pearloid triangular button on the neck joint.

[EdHanrahan]

To me, the placement of the 17th (next to last) fret looks a bit off. Not that the 17th is all that critical, but it might indicate other intonation issues.

[brunello97]

This is curious. The bridge and picks look old(er) and the MOTS headstock looks new(er). Not much looks familiar beyond the tailpiece-and I guess the headstock profile. The sound hole binding and the triangular profiled neck joint are new details to me.

Mick

[MikeEdgerton]

By chance are their any numbers pencilled or stamped inside? Look towards the tailpiece in through the sound hole and see if it is on the cross brace as well. The binding used on the body and rosette are standard to many mass produced Chicago built instruments from the 20's-30's era. The MOTS fingerboard covering is also common as is the headstock shape. What isn't common are the combinations of what is being mixed. The actual binding on the soundhole isn't unusual.

What this looks like to me is an attempt to put some lipstick on what was a pretty standard design. The body shape isn't unusual. The use of the natural spruce top is not totally common but not unheard of. The heavy V on the neck isn't unheard of and the ornate bridge is a throwback to earlier times. I think this was an attempt to move this design up a notch by either L&H, Regal or Harmony.

As far as the value goes, it's interesting but it's not going to elevate the price a whole lot.

[tedesco29]

No, I don't see any inside. Thanks for the information.

[tedesco29]

Thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

I can say with some certainty that your mandolin was made by Harmony in Chicago. Here's a very similar neck heel on a Harmony built instrument. I suspect that they built this mandolin.

[brunello97]

I'm glad you're dogging this one, Mike. I'm stumped. It's like it is so familiar, but also so strange. Never seen anything like it. It is going in the files.

Mick

[MikeEdgerton]

Harmony had a period where they were building some nice instruments. Some of the Shutt models were pretty well built. I think this is a sibling, I really do. I don't know if these were Sears catalog instruments or made to sell in regular music outlets. The "binding" itself is a heck of a lot like some Supertone parlour guitars, not exact but close. That inlay around the sound hole looks Gibson inspired to me and the frilly little bridge looks to me like they were looking for a classical audience. It's all dressed up with no place to go.

[tedesco29]

The neck does look similar.
Thanks