Re: Banjolin identification help please
Originally Posted by
ozzie69
Thanks all, but even with hi-res photos run through various filters there is no sign of anything on the headstock. Must have been sanded off and restained I guess.
Or it might not have been there at all. As NickR points out, Houghton started using the "lion couchant" mark in the 1930's and this one could be earlier. And I suggested Houghton as a possible maker, mainly based on the headstock profile, which is suggestive but hardly determinative. It surely could have been another British maker.
There are scads of unmarked, sort of nondescript instruments around, very hard to ID and attribute. Instruments were made "for the trade" and un-labeled; dealers and distributors could put their own labels on them, or sell them unmarked. Looking at this one, it's fairly easy to liken it to other British-made mandolin-banjos, but further than that, it's hard to be more specific.
I've sometimes just Googled "British mandolin-banjo images" and scanned through the results looking for similarities and a more documented example. Dunno what my batting average is, but it's not at the All-Star level.
You could take the li'l guy apart and see if there's any labeling inside the shell, but I wouldn't bet on it. Factories turned out loads of journeyman-level instruments, without much concern about clear labeling or attribution. Sometimes our curiosity just goes unsatisfied...
Allen Hopkins
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