Need help identifying Stella inlaid mandolin

[steveski]

a friend of mine gave me this back in the 90's. His Mom bought it at a yard sale for $5.00. Somewhere along the line the neck was broken but my friend repaired and its hard to detect the break point. I've twice had a guitar tech set it up, restring, tune and both times they said they've seen them but never one in such great condition.
I think it's an early 1900-1930 Stella Mandolin... has partial label inside of it.
any help appreciated. Looks like they are valued from $1000 up on ebay. Not interested in selling... its a work of art!

[nmiller]

Yup, it's a Stella, and one of the nicer ones, too. My guess is that it's no later than 1920, but I'm going on overall design and not specific knowledge of the manufacturer. That valuation, though, is optimistic by a factor of 3 at least.

[steveski]

Thanks for the info... Yes..it is very nice. The guitar tech said he can't believe how nice it is...and I agree. Regarding the value....I'm not concerned if it is worth $100 or $1000... I looked at them on eBay and couldn't find any exact matches but the ones I found were asking what I thought was a lot... It plays nice too. Neck is straight, frets good, etc.... I love it. I told my friend that gave it to me that I would leave it to him in my will....hahahahaha....
Steve

[MikeEdgerton]

The headstock shape and the label identify it as a Stella made by Oscar Schmidt in New Jersey.