The one definite marking is "PAT MAY 20, 1913" which I found on an Oscar Schmidt banjo uke and a Sovereign banjo mandolin. The patent wording is at the bottom of this post.
Bone nut is 1 1/8" with 0 fret, scale is 14", 10" pot is 1/2" thick made from three layers of steam bent oak topped with an ?aluminum? tube mounted on studs which is the bearing edge for the tight fitting 10" Rogers calfskin head. The neck heel is mahogany, pot stem oak, not sure of the rest of the neck wood. You can see trim on oak painted over with dark stain.
Published May 20, 1913 in Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Volume 190
1,962,509. NECK FOR BANJOS OR THE LIKE. OSCAR SCHMIDT, Jersey City, NJ. Filed Jan. 11, 1911. Serial No. 601,976. (CI. 84-123.
sketch
1. A banjo, comprising an apertured rim, a neck having a shoulder engaging the outer face of the rim, an inclined guideway on each side of the extensionof the neck adjacent to the said shoulder, a wedge formed of side arms and an apertured connecting cross bar, said wedge straddling the extensions of the neck and engaging the guideway and the inner face of the rim, and a screw padding through the aperture of the cross bar into the extension.
2. A banjo, comprising an apertured rim, a neck having a shoulder engaging the outer face of the rim and an extension engaging the outer face of the rim and an extension projecting through the aperture of said rim and proveded with an inclined groove in each side adjacent to each shoulder, a wedge formed of spaced arms having inwardly extended flanges and a connecting cross bar provided with an opening, said wedge straddling the extension of the neck with its flanges in the said grooves, and a screw passing through the aperture of the cross bar of the wedge into the extension.
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