Neapolitan mandolin
Maker
Joseph Bohmann
Date1899 ca.
Place MadeChicago, Illinois, United States, North America
Serial No.14117
SignedPaper label inside instrument, in black ink: [image of Bohmann] [written over image in red marker] 141.117 / [inside circle] RÈPUBLIQUE / FRANÇAISE; [image of male and female figures]; JOSEPH BOHMANN, / 306 State St., Chicago. / The Greatest Manufacturer in / the World. The only one / who[ ]received FIRST PRIZES / ON HIS / VI[O]LINS, ZITHERS, GUITARS / AND MANDOLINS. / AT[ ]EXPOSITION, in Paris, in 1889 / Bo’t 1899 [handwritten in pencil]; [inside circle: image of male and female figures with the following text] EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE / 1889Stamped into tuner cover on back of peghead: JOSEPH / _ _ / BOHMANN / PAT.DEC.8.91 / 464912
MarkingsOn back of tuning machine cover: JOSEPH / BOHMAN / PAT DEC 8, 91 / 464912
DescriptionSoundboard: two-piece spruce: wide grain
Bowl: 40 rosewood staves, 38 inner ribs narrower, divided by maple or holly stringing
Clasp: black-stained rosewood; festooned lower end
Head: mahogany or Spanish cedar; veneered with rosewood on front face; mother-of-pearl circle around each tuner end extending through front face [three are missing]; decoratively cut on back face where it meets the neck
Neck: mahogany or Spanish cedar; integral with head
Binding: ivoroid; trim comprised of: two-ply ebony/maple stripe; strip of alternating rosewood/maple rhombi; brown hardwood stripe; strip of alternating red-stained, light, and dark hardwood rectangles; three-ply brown hardwood/maple/brown hardwood stripe; strip of inlaid mother-of-pearl and abalone squares; brown hardwood stripe; strip of hardwood squares of alternating shades of brown; brown hardwood stripe
Fingerboard: rosewood with ivoroid binding [binding missing on bass side]; 18 nickel-silver bar frets; slotted-square mother-of-pearl inlay behind 3rd fret; slotted circle and two dots, all etched with crosses, inlaid in mother-of-pearl behind 5th fret; diamond with etched cross inlaid in mother-of-pearl behind 7th fret; circle with etched cross and two swastikas [left-hand and right-hand] inlaid in mother-of-
pearl behind 10th fret; mother-of-pearl slotted circle and two dots inlaid behind 12th fret; mother-of-pearl circle with etched cross and two smaller circles inlaid behind 15th fret
Nut: bone
Bridge: rosewood
Tuners: two sets of worm-gear machine tuners with nickel-plated brass cover, nickel-plated steel rollers, and ivoroid heads with nickel-silver and mother-of-pearl floral inlays; geometric patterns, leafy vines, and two birds are engraved into tuner cover
Tailpiece: brass [cover missing]
Rosette: elliptical; trim comprised of: two-ply brown hardwood/light hardwood stripe; strip of alternating maple/rosewood rhombi; brown hardwood stripe; strip of alternating red-stained, light and dark hardwood rectangles; brown hardwood
stripe; strip of alternating maple/rosewood rhombi; two-ply light hardwood/brown
hardwood stripe; strip of inlaid mother-of-pearl and abalone squares [several
missing]; two-ply brown hardwood/light hardwood stripe; strip of alternating
hardwood rectangles, some red-stained and in varying shades of brown; two-ply
light hardwood/brown hardwood stripe
Pick guard: imitation tortoiseshell celluloid; outlined with inlaid strip of mother-of-pearl and abalone squares
Lacquer: slightly yellowed with craquelure
Bowl lining: light-brown paper
Blocks: brown hardwood neck block; Spanish cedar or mahogany end block
Top braces: spruce brace with tapered ends above soundhole; spruce brace with tapered ends below soundhole and at widest point of soundboard
Linings: mahogany
DimensionsTotal mandolin length: 630 mm (24-13/16”)
Top length: 313 mm (12-5/16”)
Maximum body width: 223 mm (8-25/32”)
Maximum bowl height: 152 mm (5-31/32”)
Head length: 168 mm (6-5/8”)
Head width, top: 68 mm (2-11/16”)
Head width, bottom: 52 mm (2-1/16”)
Neck length (nut to ribs): 149 mm (5-7/8”)
Neck width, nut: 29 mm (1-1/8”)
Neck width, heel: 40.5 mm (1-19/32”)
Soundhole height: 38 mm (1-1/2”)
Soundhole width: 61.5 mm (2-13/32”)
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 328.5 mm (12-15/16”)
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number03874
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