Curiously flattened tail bowlback mandolin

[peterk]

Please take a look at this:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=301017848294&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:de

I just can not place that mandolin anywhere, although I'd sooner attribute it to a German or Japanese maker, than an Italian one.
Thanx for your help.

109518

[Jim Garber]

it might help to actually see the front of the mandolin...

[Jim Garber]

I found one in a Gebrüder Schuster catalog from Markneukirchen. There is a 12 string pictured but the pick guard resembles this one.

In any case, I would say German-made copy of Italian style mandolin.

[brunello97]

I saw one of these at the Musical Instruments Museum in Berlin a long time ago. The label on it was Seltsam Abgeflachten Endstück, or something like that. I can't remember exactly.

Mick

[pfox14]

I was going say definitely European and probably German.

[Paul Hostetter]

Based on the way the staves connect in the bottom of the bowl, and the flattened end, it looks distinctly Egyptian, made by an oud maker who knew how to make a Neapolitan (or rather Sicilian) mandolin. I think the tuners have been replaced.