Pumpkin colored spruce top, hand carved of course. One piece hand carved curly maple back with an exquisite reddish stain. Curly maple rims and neck, also with the reddish stain. The inlaid pick guard is made of real tortoise shell and is inlaid with mother of pearl stars and crescent moons. (Although the pick guard has cracks it is still tightly attached to the top) The fingerboard is inlayed with the vine/flower pot pattern, composed of intertwined abalone, mother of pearl and silver wire. The headstock inlay is similar.

An apparently identical mandolin is shown in the Gruhn-Carter book. There it is described as the only one known. We now know there are at least two.

The mandolin is in excellent condition. The finish, believed to be French polished varnish is in excellent condition. There are no cracks in the body- repaired or un-repaired. The only work done is a partial (11) frets replaced with slightly larger frets, repair of a hairline crack on the back of the headstock and invisible replacement of the two of the ivroid tips on the points. The re-fretting was done before I purchased the mandolin. The other work was done for me by MacBlane String Instruments (Robert MacBlane).

The case is the original shaped hard shell with a red lining. It is in excellent condition.

I have owned this mandolin for over thirty years. But, the time has come to let it go.

$13,995.00

The price includes ground shipping and insurance to anywhere in the continental 48 States. I will ship to Hawaii, Alaska and Canada but the shipping and insurance to these destinations is extra. I will not ship this instrument to any other foreign country.