Instruments
Pearl Banjo
Quick Facts
Unknown
Unknown
1890
$instrument.serial_number
10 3/4" head; 26" scale; 34" long
Excellent and all original.
I call this 5-string banjo "The Pearl." The dowel stick has a pearl label reading: "STRATTON & HANDLEY, 1890, LOWELL MASS." Stratton and Handley was a large music store. This banjo was most likely made by a New York maker. The fingerboard has white pearl between the frets, inset with a more colorful type of shell. My father had a banjo of this type in our smoke house ca. 1950. It was in sad shape, and had most of the pearl missing; however, my father's banjo was lost. I searched for years for another. I recently found two that are identical; however, the twin to this banjo does not have the pearl label.
