5-string banjo

Date1890-1900 ca.

Place MadePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North America

Serial No.7070

SignedStamped onto underside of calf-skin head in purple ink: JOS.RICKETTS / PHILA
Stamped into rectangular brass plate on dowel stick: JOS. RICKETT / PHILA.
Stamped into nickel-plated brass dowel stick fastener: RICKETT
MarkingsStamped into dowel stick and inside of wooden rim: 7070
DescriptionNeck: maple
Peghead: maple with ebony veneer; cross abalone inlay in center of face
Fingerboard: ebony; 20 nickel-silver T-frets; cross mother-of-pearl inlay behind 5th fret; single diamond mother-of-pearl inlays behind 10th and 17th frets
Heel cap: missing
Head: calf-skin
Tone ring: none
Rim: full-spun black-painted hardwood with nickel-plated brass overlay
Bracket hooks: 22 nickel-plated steel
Shoes: 22 nickel-plated brass
Tension hoop: nickel-plated brass
Resonator: none
Dowel stick: mahogany
Top nut: ebony
5th-string nut: ebony
Tuners: 4 later brass geared tuners with plates set into back of peghead, bone heads, floral design stamped onto plates; 1 nickel-plated steel 5th-string tension tuner with ebony head; 4 filled holes in peghead face suggest original tension or friction tuners
Tailpiece: nickel-plated brass; red plastic rose on tailpiece
Finish: brown lacquer
DimensionsTotal instrument length: 842 mm (33-5/32”)
Total vibrating string length: 651 mm (25-5/8”)
Vibrating length of 5th string: 486 mm (19-1/8”)
Total fingerboard length: 451 mm (17-3/4”)
Fingerboard length from 5th-string nut: 294 mm (11-9/16”)
Fingerboard width at top nut: 30 mm (1-3/16”)
Fingerboard width at 5th-string nut: 44 mm (1-23/32”)
Fingerboard width at body: 52 mm (2-1/16”)
Head diameter: 270 mm (10-5/8”)
Rim depth: 63 mm (2-15/32”)
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number03551

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