Butterfly bowl back ID?

[bward]

I bought an antique butterfly inlay bowl back for my daughter for Xmas. She runs a Milkweed for Monarchs project. It has a Pat'd Oct 26 86 tail piece making me think it's maybe 1890-1910 vintage. There are no makers marks or labels. Inside is painted black. Butterfly inlay has MOP eyes and perhaps brass antennae. 13 ribs. Pictures:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...YH?usp=sharing

Any help IDing would be much appreciated. Thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

Later vintage, perhaps a bit beyond your 1910. The tuners pretty much date it as later. Not a real expensive instrument based on the number of staves, the butterfly doesn't help much either. It looks like it's in pretty good shape. Probably one of the Chicago builders (such as Lyon and Healy or Harmony). Could have been sold in a catalog like Sears or through a teacher. Are there any numbers penciled on the brace behind the sound hole?

One of resident bowlheads may have a catalog page or other identifying factor to throw in to the mix.

[Jim Garber]

Headstock is similar to George Bauer who associated with SS Stewart in Philadelphia but it could easily be what Mike says a product of Chicago makers. They were cranking out lots of those.

BTW butterfly inlays were very common and do not necessarily indicate maker since they were often purchased from third party suppliers.

I agree that this is a budget mandolin but if structurally sound could be a decent player.

[MikeEdgerton]

Jim, how many people just painted the inside black? Most of the early bowls I've seen were lined with either paper or cloth. You've certainly seen more than I have.

[Scot63]

I'd rather be a bowlhead than a blockhead.

[bward]

Thanks all. I guessed maybe up to about 1910 because patents are only good for 20 years. Don't know why one would advertise the date of an expired patent.

Didn't see any numbers on either sound hole brace.

Though I need to work a little more on the action I think it will end up being a nice player. Sounds great so far.

[MikeEdgerton]

...Don't know why one would advertise the date of an expired patent...

Gibson did it for years. It looks to be in good shape and many of these student grade instruments sound a heck of a lot better than their modern counterparts because they were well made of quality materials.

[derbex]

I'd rather be a bowlhead than a blockhead.

I dunno https://youtu.be/4cTT4pD4fNA

[HonketyHank]

Butterfly bowl? Who is playing in that one? Wofford vs Furman? Most likely though, all the backs will be ID'd if you buy a program.

sorry - I'll go back to my cave, now.

[Kevin Stueve]

Butterfly bowl? Who is playing in that one? Wofford vs Furman? Most likely though, all the backs will be ID'd if you buy a program.

sorry - I'll go back to my cave, now.

you know this will make little sense to our friends across the pond right? :P

[gweetarpicker]

I came to the Cafe for a little fun and you had to go off and mention Wofford. I'm still bleeding Carolina blue after that debacle last night.

[bward]

Headstock is similar to George Bauer

Except for the inlay it looks a lot like the monogram series in catalog (#8, 10, 12):

http://digital.hagley.org/20120329_B...age/6/mode/1up

Thanks again!

[Jim Garber]

Let's make is a bit easier and post a few pics here of the OP's mandolin.

[Jim Garber]

Except for the inlay it looks a lot like the monogram series in catalog (#8, 10, 12):

http://digital.hagley.org/20120329_B...age/6/mode/1up

Thanks again!

Headstock is what made me think of Bauer Monogram but really nothing else matches those catalog pics. However, this is as probably as close as we can get.