Authenticity of Snakehead "The Gibson" logo

[EvanElk]

Hi folks - did 1923/24 Gibson Snakehead A mandolins have this sort of painted on "The Gibson" logo? This one looks like hand brushed opalescent paint with accents of green and yellow to make it look like mother of pearl. I'm guessing this is the result of a "restoration" but I thought some knowledgeable folks on the Cafe may know

[John Rosett]

That looks all original to me. I've seen several snakeheads with logos just like that.

[pheffernan]

My 1924 snakehead is presented for the sake of comparison.

[William Smith]

It looks legit to me as Gibson did all sorts of strange/weird combinations back then! I've even seen an original plain Jane 1924 snake head with white "The Gibson" stenciling with the fancy and super rare Loar arrow head, silver plated, engraved, pearl button tuners!

[Ray(T)]

Looks just like mine.

[Ivan Kelsall]

That's an eye opener for sure !!. Obviously,i'm no Gibson expert,but i'd have said that it was a ''hand painted job'' on an authentic instrument,
Ivan

[EvanElk]

Thanks everyone. I guess that does confirm that the painted on Gibson script is authentic but as Ivan notes, it really looks like maybe someone reproduced it later on in this particular instrument. This community is the "Mandopedia!"

[Ray(T)]

I was also sceptical when I first bought mine so I checked others in the “Mandolin Archive”. The conclusion was that, during this period, the logo was screen printed, not hand painted, and intended to look like an abalone/MoP inlay.

[Glassweb]

Hi folks - did 1923/24 Gibson Snakehead A mandolins have this sort of painted on "The Gibson" logo? This one looks like hand brushed opalescent paint with accents of green and yellow to make it look like mother of pearl. I'm guessing this is the result of a "restoration" but I thought some knowledgeable folks on the Cafe may know

Yep... original. Gibson... "business as unusual"!

[f5loar]

Looks like my '25 A model.

[ollaimh]

yeah my 1924 has a screen printed logo. my 1923 has an inlaid logo. i've seen both. and my 24 is straight across not slanted, the 23 slanted. they mixed it up between A 1, 2, 3 4, and individual luthiers.

and some without a logo at all.