# General Mandolin Topics > Vintage Instruments >  Lyre harp

## Windflite

A friend of mine asked me for information about an instrument that his Great Grand Parents (He himself is currently 42) purchased new and passed on to him. #Dimensionally, the instrument is 21 ¼ high x 13 5/8 wide. #

Label inside the sound hole-

United States Music Co.
Lyre Harp
Pat. May 19, 01
87-10 Ferry St.
Jersey City, NJ

Label upper left-

Special Panama Model 1915

Strings-
4 sets of 4 strings to left are chords in Key of C
(4 G, 4 F, 4 G, 4 C)
The other 15 single strings are from middle C to high C (two octaves)

Has anybody ever seen one of these things? #Although he has no intentions of selling, he is interested in a value as well for insurance purposes.

I'll post a few pics...

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## Windflite

Another shot of the front...

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## Windflite

The Soundhole...

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## Windflite

The back...

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## Windflite

The label on the top... (Sorry for low res pics...)

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## Gutbucket

There were alot of these harp and zither type instruments sold at the turn of the last century by traveling salesmen for parlour music. They would sell you the instrument and then later a series of songbooks to learn by. Antiques Roadshow has featured these types of instruments on a few of their shows. Probably a lot of these are still up in grandma's attic.

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## MikeEdgerton

Made by the Oscar Schmidt Company of Jersey City, NJ and sold (many times door to door) under a few dozen brands and instrument names, mandolin harp, etc. You can buy them for $20.00 or so on eBay almost weekly although they will be listed much higher the first three times the owner lists them. Several years ago (I am told) several of these were discovered new in an old warehouse in the New York area. Although this isn't a ukelin, you can also Google ukelin to learn more about the genre and methods of sale for these instruments. They are all related under the skin.

NOTE: I'll up the ante, the average selling price on eBay seems to be in the $50.00 range now. Give it a few weeks and it might go down again. There are three or four active right now and 5 or 6 that have been sold. One went for $100.00 or so with a complete folio of music.

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## allenhopkins

It's a zither. #There are zillions of them around, under a bewildering variety of names, and with many variances in design. #Basically, any instrument in which the strings extend over a soundbox, but which has no neck, is generically a "zither." #This includes the Autoharp, Appalachian and hammered dulcimers, even the piano and harpsichord.

A good place to do research on the different types of zither is Kelly Williams' website, www.fretlesszithers.net  #Notice, he specializes in the *fretless* zither; there is also a *guitar zither* which has a fretted fingerboard to play melody notes, and a series of chords similar to yours to provide chordal accompaniment. #Williams lists both the "lyre harp" and "United States Music Co." in his glossary of models and makers, though he doesn't have a picture of an instrument.

As to value, well, as I said, there are millions of them around, most from the turn of the 20th Century when this type of instrument was sold door-to-door -- and, in many cases, stuck away in the attic after a few attempts at playing them. #(Parenthetically, I wonder how anyone considered playing these multi-string monsters in the days before the electronic tuner.) #Auction sites have dozens of ukelins, tremeloas, mandolin-guitar-harps, phonoharps, and other zither variants up for sale on any given day, and prices are generally well below $100. #Few play them any more, and with the exception of the Autoharp and the dulcimer, Appalachian and hammered, there doesn't seem to be a thriving musical scene around any of the zither-family instruments. #I'm not connected to the German/Eastern European music community, where there may be more zithers being played.

I see that the U.S. Music Co. was in Jersey City, also home of Oscar Schmidt Co., I believe. #Your friend has a neat curiosity, and a playable musical instrument, but not the zither equivalent of the Loar F-5*, sorry to say.

** Later:* this  might be the zither equivalent of the Loar F-5.

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## Windflite

Thank you gentlemen. #As always, the depth of historical information available from the cafe' community continues to amaze me! # I've forwarded a link to this thread to the owner so that he may be enlightened as well. #

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## MikeEdgerton

> I see that the U.S. Music Co. was in Jersey City, also home of Oscar Schmidt Co., I believe.


Amazingly enough the same street address as well.

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## allenhopkins

Apparently Oscar Schmidt Co. had several "satellite" corporations in the instrument business, including the International Music Co. which was formed under the auspices of Mr. Schmidt himself to take over the manufacture of zither-type instruments (Autoharp, Marxophone etc.) from Phonoharp Co. of Boston. #Oscar Schmidt Co., which was primarily making guitars and violins under labels such as Stella and Sovereign, did millwork for International Music. #In 1931 a new corporation, Oscar Schmidt International, was formed, making zither-type instruments; OSI survived the collapse of the "parent" Oscar Schmidt Co. in 1937, and the "Oscar Schmidt" label is now found on Autoharps, as well as a variety of imported stringed instruments.

Of course the new "United States Music Company" out of Illinois is now the owner of several historic labels, including Washburn and Oscar Schmidt, which they affix to their Asian-built imports. #Searching for the original U.S. Music Co., apparently a subsidiary satellite of the old Oscar Schmidt Co., doesn't yield many results. #The "U.S. Music Co." label is mentioned on Williams' zither website, but no additional data.

A good source for Oscar Schmidt history (should anyone be interested) is Becky Blackley's _The Autoharp Book,_ published by i.a.d. Publications, 1983.

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## Timbofood

Surely this falls under the (Oh so Broad) category of zither but should not be confused with the "Concert Zither" of the "3rd Man" genre. Literaly there were hundreds of these "Parlor Instruments" sold. My favorites were made by the "Marx-O-Chime" company from New Buffalo (I think). I owned a "Hawaiian Tremoloa." Now that was salesmanship!

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