As many of you folks know, I am very fond of oddball instruments. My friend and excellent luthier, Joel Eckhaus (Earnest Instruments) has a geographical connection to the maker who worked in the early part of the last century. Joel bought and restored one of these oddball mandolins made by John Henry Parker. Joel wrote an article in Fretboard Journal a few years ago.
A mandolin by this maker just showed up on eBay and I scored it yesterday. I am currently waiting for the seller to ship it to Joel who very graciously agreed to restore it.
It looks it is missing one fretboard inlay and has some loose binding in multiple places. I am hoping that structurally it is OK. This one doesn't have a label inside or a Bandola plate on the headstock.
I think Joel's mandolin was originally discussed on this thread in 2007.
And an octave mandolin version is discussed in this thread from 2008.
The patent from 1894 is below.
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