banjo-like object ebay

[Jody Stecher]

Yikes, it's a banjo from another planet:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181656438863?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&a...

[thereallyniceman]

Hmmm,

Here are the pics from the advert.... A strange beast indeed!!

 

I would have bid on it but I already have one :-)

ps. Jody... what are you doing on Ebay at 4  o'clock in the morning when all the good people are fast asleep??

:-)

[Steve Harrison]

Cleaned up and hung on the wall as a curio I suppose it may be OK but to get this into any sort of working order would take more time than I'd be prepared give to it..even then I rather doubt if it could be made playable..Steve.

[Jody Stecher]

Ian, the difference in time between Blackpool and San Francisco is 8 hours. I tried posting at midnight but the site was not working. Eventually I was able to access the site but my post got hung up and would not take. So I left it. And it posted itself twice. One for each thumb string I guess. That is the interesting thing to me about this banjo. 2 thumb strings. But why? For someone with 2 thumbs? Tuned to different pitches? 

Steve, I posted this as a curiosity, not as an invitation to bid. I am suspicious of this instrument and wonder if it is really as old as it appears to be. The heel carving seems anachronistic, from a later era. Other aspects are suspicious as well.

[thereallyniceman]

Yes Jody, I think the host server was having problems last night. It seems to have been resolved now.

It all looks very odd to me too...perhaps it was actually made to hang on a wall, like Steve suggests :-)

[Trapdoor2]

Folk art. I would say that it is consistent with folk art banjos from the 1890-1930s era. The rim appears to have been scavenged from a small drum (stave-built) or perhaps a bucket. I find the extra set of bracket holes to be quite odd...they're not centered on each stave, they're offset to one side for some reason. The two drones are not unique, I've seen banjos with three drones...and even drones on both sides of the neck. That the tuners are horizontally inserted tells me that the neck design is post 1870's and rest of the hardware is at least 1890's and likely later.

It would not surprise me to find that this was made in the 1920-1940 era as a folk-art piece. Too bad the headstock finial is missing, that might have spoken more about its origins.

[Shawn McSweeny]

Indeed a folk piece of questionable vintage, perhaps once playable, but now either trash or "art". And an inspiration. My 1987 Accord has been in my barn for 15 years. Time to list it on ebay as a "barn-fresh find from the last century". Suckers, are you out there?