Classic banjo serial numbers

[Richard Katz]

I find it interesting the S.S. Stewart Co. did not keep accurate serial numbers considering how detailed Stewart himself seemed to be. Other companies such as A.C. Fairbanks, Bacon, and others seemed to have accurate and existent serial number records whereas Stewart serial numbers are not guaranteed to be accurate. I tried dating my Special Thoroughbred and have seen dates anywhere from 1895 to 1900. Is there a reason for this someone could shed some light on? Thanks!

[Shawn McSweeny]

SS Stewart introduced serials after a  few years in business, around SN 1000, to help distiguish authenticity of his product from knock-offs appearing in the market place. His banjos are numbered sequentially  until about the time of his death in 1898, around SN 20,000. No company ledgers recording serials by year exist today. Serials are assigned to production years approximately, by educated guesswork.  Some guesses are simply more educated than others.

Under new ownership/management, a serialization is adopted after 1898, starting at around 50,000 and carries on for a decade or more through a few changes in company ownership and places of business. This series may not be numbered continuously. During this period, we also see the emergence of a splinter firm,  SS Stewart Sons, with a very similar looking product, carrying its own serialization. The years after 1898 remain more difficult to follow and assign serials to years with accuracy.

[Richard Katz]

My serial number is 50324. Somewhere between 1898 and 1900 I have been told.

[Joel Hooks]

In 1901 George Bauer borrowed $4000 from Stewart's widow.  This was in addition to $1000 that SSS had lent him before his death.  Quality had gone down on Stewart banjos since Swaim's death.  The business was actually willed to Fred and Lemuel.

 It was still in 1901 that Bauer refused to pay a debt forcing the SSS company to shut down for nearly two months to be settled in court and eventually forcing the company into bankruptcy.  By doing this Bauer was able to take full control of the company.

Earlier in 1901 (or was it late 1900-- too many dates) Bauer sold the music plates and existing stock of sheet music to Jos. Stern & Co. in NYC (and by that time it was a big catalog).  That connection with Stern lead to Fred going to work for them after Bauer forced the Stewarts out of their own company.  Fred took the Journal with him and was not shy about publishing his thoughts on Bauer.

The Stewart's Son's Improved 4S banjos were marketed as a way to salvage the quality that the name Stewart stood for in direct opposition to Bauer cost cutting quality and ruining the Stewart reputation.

So, that is what was going on.  With that, and the move to Bauer's mandolin factory, the temporary transfer of editing for the Journal to Charles Morris and selling off a major asset of the company (the printing division) one could see why George Bauer was not concerned with things like serial numbers.

[Richard Katz]

I noticed in the book, "America's Instrument, The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century", on color plate 3-2 showing Stewart banjo serial number 54073, dated ca.1898. If this is accurate, then my serial number 50324 would be earlier. This,however, conflicts with the information I have read that serial numbers 50000 and above began after Stewart's death in 1898.
Not that it is critical to me what year my Stewart was made, but just some interesting information.
Also, I have compared the quality of my Stewart banjo with other earlier models and have noticed no difference, or decline, in quality. Perhaps the decline in quality came later after Bauer took over and any existing inventory was depleted.