Mandolin - G. Puglisi Reale & Figli, 1925. Need help.

[Haaslund]

This is my grandmothers old mandolin. I've tried to find information about it, but nothing yet. Hoping that someone in this forum can help. Since I can't find another like this by this maker anywhere I am looking for any information about it. Real/fake? Worth restoring/no? What does the NoPo stamp stand for? Any info you might have.

Thank you.

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(I have previously posted this question in the Mandolin sub at Reddit.com)

[MikeEdgerton]

Interesting, They copied a Gibson F style body shape. That's pretty interesting. Maybe one of the resident bowlback experts has seen one of these.

For posterity.

[Martin Jonas]

I agree with Mike that this one is interesting -- I've never seen anything similar, so it's hard to comment on its musical value.

Puglisi was a fairly well-regarded maker of bowlback mandolins and other musical instruments, based in Catania/Sicily -- probably the best of the Catania makers although not in the same league as the top makers in Naples or Rome. Their bowlbacks are nice, but (like almost all bowlbacks) now have a limited commercial value, typically in the $150 to $300 range. That is not necessarily a reflection of poor quality but simply market forces -- their trade violins which are similar quality sell for tens of thousands!

As Mike has said, your instrument is obviously their attempt to copy in a rather superficial manner the body shape of a Gibson F-style mandolin. However, this is limited to the outline rather than the characteristic construction details that define the archtop mandolin. This one is a flattop mandolin with a canted top, and likely to sound similar to a bowlback or possibly a Martin-type flat mandolin. In other words, nothing like a Gibson.

As a one-off, it's difficult to value. However, I would be surprised if if fetches anything more than a typical Puglisi bowlback. Given its relatively poor condition, I'd say at the lower end of the above range unless you happen to come across somebody who is willing to pay a premium for the unusual body shape. All of this is of course irrelevant if you want to keep and play it as a family heirloom, which would be my recommendation.

As to your questions:

1. It's no doubt a genuine Puglisi, but a fake Gibson.

2. You need to see a luthier regarding whether it's worth restoring. For its commercial value, probably not -- the repair is likely more expensive than the resale value. As a family heirloom to treasure, quite possibly yes. Fixing the top crack at the scroll should be straightforward, but there may be other structural issues. In particular, the neck construction worries me -- it looks like it may have broken off in the past and fixed by bolting it on. A luthier needs to see this to assess if it was built like this or (more likely I think) it was a major repair in the past.

3. No idea about the NoPo logo in the brandmark, but the lower part of the brand is the initials of Puglisi Reale.

Martin

[Bob A]

If it was mine, I'd look into having it restored to playable condition. I've never seen another like it, and I think it's fascinating. For that reason, I'm sure there's someone else out there who would really like it. It deserves preservation, just because.

If it was my grandmother's, another reason for repair, since I play mandolin, and I miss my grandmother.

As to value, in restored condition I'd think it would bring maybe as much as $4-500; maybe more, if a couple collectors with a taste for odd mandolins decided they had to have it.

[Haaslund]

I will look into having it restored. I am a bit amazed at the fact that I can't find anything about this model. As you say, it should be restored and preserved, just because.

[MikeEdgerton]

As to value, in restored condition I'd think it would bring maybe as much as $4-500; maybe more, if a couple collectors with a taste for odd mandolins decided they had to have it.

I think that valuation is pretty generous. I think Martin is probably closer to what you could get for it. Unfortunately being unusual doesn't generally equate to monetary value unless you're talking about a brand that is already bringing decent money.

[brunello97]

This is a remarkable find, Haaslund (if I may call you that.) I am a big fan of Puglisi mandolins, not necessarily for their sound quality, but for their unabashed design brio. That exuberant design sense was not always matched with a high level of craft in building--though sometimes it was.

I wouldn't call it a "fake Gibson" in that it is clearly not trying to fool anyone. Lots of genuine faked Gibsons show up here. "Curiously inspired by Gibson" might be more generous. As if a Gibson F4 married a Shutt and their child grew up in Sicily.

Puglisi tended to copy everyone and everything, at first the big name builders in Naples and Rome but then their own unique, kooky and not-to-everyone's-taste designs emerged as well. They were clearly looking across the Atlantic, too, as this shows. I have Puglisi mandola with a canted-top and carved maple back stained in a nearly dead-on match of the burgundy wine finish Gibson was using at the time. It has a radius-ed fretboard but unfortunately the same Cheap Charlie tuners as on yours.

However cool, this one is simply weird, but done with (just barely) enough style to make it credible. Or maybe they were just banking on the Puglisi name. The neck angle (and that wimpy neck joint) would be my biggest concern in getting it playable. Lots of great sounding canted top / rosewood back mandolins came out of Chicago in the '20s. No safe bet that this one would be sounding as good.

I couldn't venture a $$ number. The market is fluky. I sold a leaden Suzuki bowlback with a Louisville Slugger neck to a woman in France a couple years ago for $450. Your Puglisi is way cooler and certainly going to sound better than that. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Would love to hear more about how / where / when your Meemaw acquired this.

Mick

[Haaslund]

Really appreciate the reply. As for how my grandma got her hands on it?... No idea. She was a nurse in a small place in the middle of nowhere (Varmland, Sweden) playing in her spare time with her husband and friends. Violin, harmonica, mandolin...that sort of thing. She wasn't a "real" musician or a collector of any kind. They've all passed so sadly noone to ask. I would guess a gift at some point maybe.

[LadysSolo]

I own a Puglisi bowl back that is a wonderful sounding bowlback, being aware that it is totally different sounding than modern mandolins. If you want to learn to play, and get it restored to play later, you might want to check into how much it would be. Might be less than you think (or maybe not....)

[MikeEdgerton]

Apparently they were building other mandolin family instruments with flat backs. I've yet to find another one of these but here are two other flat back instruments:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ld-MandoThingy

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...lin-1758311824

[Jeff Mando]

Very cool. Might be fun to play, once restored. Otherwise, a great wall-hanger.

[brunello97]

Worth embedding this information from Dave Hynds site (info courtesy our friend Plami, from here....

"The Puglisi family started building musical instruments in Catania ( Sicily ) around 1820.
Giuseppe Reale was born in 1852, the son of a piano and organ builder. In 1880 he has founded one of the largest Italian factories for manufacturing bowed and plucked string instruments. After 1906 the firm name appears as 'G. Puglisi Reale i Figlio'. (Figlio; sons in Italian). His sons were Guiseppe Puglisi had 2 sons, Concetto and Michelangelo. Michelangelo Puglisi ran the workshop successfully after 1909 and his son Salvatore Puglisi was also involved in the family business. They were makers of fine violins, bows, strings, guitars, mandolins and unique cellos.

Unfortunately the factory was destroyed during bombing in WWII (1943). Although it was rebuilt and some noted instruments were built after this time, many of the original Puglisi family susbsequently migrated from Sicily to USA , Canada and Australia . After Salvatore`s death his son-in-law Buccheri Puglisi took over the factory. Before he died, he gave all the factory's tools to Alfredo Privitera, who established the Privitera Company in 1962, which makes the instruments similar to those of Puglisi. The Privitera factory still exists in Catania and is located on 'Via Scuto Costarelli'."

Mick

[Tony Pagliaro]

[QUOTE=

3. No idea about the NoPo logo in the brandmark, but the lower part of the brand is the initials of Puglisi Reale.

I think it's M not N (Michelangelo Pugliesi?)

[brunello97]

[QUOTE=Tony Pagliaro;1519404][QUOTE=

3. No idea about the NoPo logo in the brandmark, but the lower part of the brand is the initials of Puglisi Reale.

I think it's M not N (Michelangelo Pugliesi?)[/QUOTE]

So you think it is MP (not NoPo) and the two "o"s are iconic rather than letters? The right leg of the M and the stem of the P are conjoined?

A reasonable speculation in the face of what anyone has been able to decipher so far.

Mick

[vic-victor]

Definitely not M, could be N or even an ornate V, but not M. In this thread there is a better shot of the same logo.

[brunello97]

Much clearer in those photos, Victor. Thanks.

Definitely not an "M".

Mick

[Graham McDonald]

Great mandolin! I do like the 'not quite right' Embergher style scratchplate.