Antique Photo of a Mandolin of the Day

[John Zimm]

Here's a unique one:

[John Zimm]

And here's the news story that goes with the photo:

[Tatoosh]

I understand the turtles were very much against this practice.

[mandoisland]

Here is another one from a series that has been already posted here. The postcard was sent in 1904 in the south of France.

[bluesmandolinman]

If I had to guess I'd say the black man in the top hat was not a blues man. The style of dress predates and doesn't match the usual style blues men wore. This guy is in full top hat, tails, and cummerbund with a white tie. I'd say he was wealthier than most blues men got to be, and dressed for something a litle more uptown than the blues. Late minstrel period perhaps?

The more I look at it the more I think it's likely to be around 1918-1922: early diaspora. Probably taken in a north eastern city like Philly, New York, or Boston.

Daniel, big guesser.

Hi Daniel ( I didn´t notice your response before)

I like your nickname "big guesser"

I understand your argument but on the other hand think about the famous photo of Robert Johnson. That wasn´t his normal outfit either ! So who knows under which circumstances the above player was pictured .

But I agree : their is a big chance he wasn´t a bluesmandolinman ( I just like the term )

And btw ... most musicians were "living music boxes" and not limited to a special style . The style we associate them is most often to the recordings we hear. But it was the music industry that decided what to record and therefore it is not necessarily a correct picture of their repertoire .

Can you direct me to sources for this kind of information you are referring to ? ( it's likely to be around 1918-1922: early diaspora. Probably taken in a north eastern city like Philly, New York, or Boston ) this is very interesting...

René

[mandoisland]

I got this nice postcard today, which had been sent in Paris in 1903. I was surprised to find a mandolin with an Embergher head on this postcard, as can be seen on the detail.

[mandoisland]

Detail

[nigelgatherer]

This is somewhere in the UK, but there's no way of telling where.

[Jim Garber]

I just found this one from the University of Buffalo site:



Jim

[Bob DeVellis]

Albert Hartley and Ed Gail. The mandola is a Howe-Orme. The mandolin may be an Elias Howe Univeristy model or one of the other guitar-shaped instruments around at the turn of the 20th century.




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[Bob DeVellis]

What looks like a funky style tailpiece on the mandola (and mandolin, too, actually) appears to be something like lead or leather wrapped around the tailpiece and string ends. It might be a hand-fashioned extended tailpiece cover. I wonder if it was to improve balance of the instrument or prevent sleeve snags on the string windings after the tailpiece cover went missing.

There's also something that looks like the original Wood Nymph under the strings between the tailpiece and bridge.


.

[Jim Garber]

Bob:
I would imagine that it would be more for the sleeve snag prevention. That guitar looks mighty big for the period. Any clue what that is?

Jim

[Bob DeVellis]

Jim, you're right, it is big for the time. I don't know what it is. Anybody else?

Rick Turner shared a few observations with me about this picture. First, the mandolin, held by the plare on the right, is an American Conservatory identical to one Rick has. He also pointed out that, in addition to the "extra bridge" between the bridge and tailpiece, there's one between the nut and tuners. This guy was working hard either to eliminate or tune resonances from the strings outside of the usual active string length.

[bluesmandolinman]

this is a picture from aprox. 1930-40s from a family relative of mine . The pictured mandolin was given to me by my grandma some 10 years ago.... of course I still have it !
nothing spectacular but it got me started

[Arnt]

Here is s a picture from the 1920's. It is a May 17th. parade in Sunndal, Norway (our country's constitution day). There were usually marching bands leading these parades even back then, but as this was a small community, some local musicians likely got the job for the day. I can't quite make out the details (perhaps some of you can) but the instruments look like a harp guitar, an accordion and a bowl back mandolin, all highly in fashion back then.

[Arnt]

Here is a close up of the band. They look sharp, no?

[mandoisland]

I have added a foto-album with ca. 20 old postcards that I have bought during the last weeks. The following pictures might be interesting for this thread.

First a postcard of a group called "Troupe Figaro" which shows a mandola and a guitar with extra bass strings. I wonder which kind of music they played.

[mandoisland]

The mandola from this picture, it looks like the soundboard is decorated.

[mandoisland]

The guitar from this picture

[mandoisland]

And last from an postcard about Carneval a very special instrument, looks like a mandolin with 4 strings. The complete album with postcards can be found on my homepage in the picksibition area - my museeum of all kind of mandolin related fun stuff.

[Arnt]

Hi mandoisland, I checked out your web site. I like it, and I had fun finding a lot of European Mandolin maker's sites on your links pages. There aren't too many up here in Norway (that I know of anyways), so you have gien me some interesting new names that aren't that far from where I live. Thanks!

[Jim Garber]

I just acquired this interesting promotional postcard for A. Monzino & Figli in Milan. They mention awards from 1906 and 1907, so I assume that it dates from after that, possibly the teens to 1920s.

It is a 4-panel fold out and here is the cover panel. The other two will follow.

Jim

[Jim Garber]

Here is a picture of the Monzino luthiers at work. In the bottom middle of the photo, you can see a liuto moderno (10 string mandocello) and an 8-string mandocello.

Jim

[Jim Garber]

Here is the string making room.

Jim

[Jim Garber]

I also just acquired this photo. Send in the clowns...

Jim