Italian mandolin with guitar-like bridge?

[Sevelos]

I have seen this mandolin for sale online.
The bridge looks guitar-like to me, but the seller claims it is the original bridge.
In the picture, the top looks sunken to me (does not resemble in my opinion Neapolitan mandolins where the top is bent down on purpose), but the seller says it is a two-part top with one part above the other, and is not sunken.

Does it make sense? Any opinion on this mandolin would be greatly appreciated.

[brunello97]

This is pretty interesting find. It looks like a version of the French "Gelas" mandolin system. Maybe Giuseppe V tried his hand at it, or relabeled an instrument that he brought in from France. The Gelas system was 'licensed' out to other French builders but the labels or stamps usually made some note of this. This is the first example I have seen from Italy.

If I'm explaining it correctly, the bridge system, while "fixed" like a guitar bridge, is actually designed to pull up on the top rather than down.

Lots of discussion on Gelas here...you can do a search as easy as I can link you. Same for an on-line search. I own one as does our friend Martin Jonas who posts here regularly.

This one, for instance has some good shots of the Gelas bridge, even if the OP spelled his name wrong ;-)

I have examples of Venzana's bowlback mandolins in my files but nothing that resembles a Gelas. The labels are signed "Venzana" and with the street address in Napoli, it has led me to believe he wasn't just a jobber of others' mandolins. Others may know more about Venzana and his work.

Mick

[vic-victor]

Yes, Venzana was making Gelas-like instruments for Paul Beuscher in Paris. I am not sure the bridge on the one in question is original, though, likely an improvised replacement.