Originally Posted by
mrmando
All 1917 and 1918 FONs published by Spann have 5 digits. 11168 would be a 1918 FON.
My guess would be that the top is refinished, since the riser block is the wrong color. On an original pumpkin top mandolin, the riser block would be brown. Here it's orange. So to believe that the top is original, you'd have to believe that someone refinished just the riser block to match the rest of the top. Which seems less likely than someone refinishing the entire top including the riser block.