AP stamp on Kalamazoo KM11?

I have a 1935 Kalamazoo KM11 with an “AP” stamp on the neck block and on the inside of the back. I’m just wondering if this was done at the factory and had some significance? Maybe it was done by a retailer or former owner. Just curious.

Attachment 195701
Attachment 195702
Attachment 195703

I'm guessing it to be the initials of the factory worker charged with inspecting the mandolins.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

I've owned a few of those and held a half dozen more and I've never seen a stamp like that. I would suspect it was an owner marking their instrument in the event that it was stolen but who knows? I don't think it came out of the factory like that. I think we would have seen more of them.

I have owned six of them, none had that marking.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tom Sanderson

I have owned six of them, none had that marking.

---

Wow, Tom. Six? I've owned four and I thought that was obsessive.

I do like them and have tended to keep one around and then pass it along.

I've said it here before...for whatever reason that neck profile has been just perfect for my hand profile.
Most comfortable mandolins I've ever played.

Still have one now.

But like you and Mike, never have seen a stamp inside like the OP.

Mick

Only owned a couple. Haven't seen that stamp. But I'll vote for a retailer. Sears would stamp instruments. That's possibly what the store that sold this did.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eric Platt

Only owned a couple. Haven't seen that stamp. But I'll vote for a retailer. Sears would stamp instruments. That's possibly what the store that sold this did.

---

Sears would have stamped a catalog number in it if they stamped anything. Heck, half the time they wrote those numbers in pencil. If it was a retailer I'm sure those were the initials of the store.

I have a Wards model 1642- their version of the A50 made by Gibson. The only stamp inside- other than the Gibson FON number, is a date stamp- a month and year. You see this in Wards instruments made by other makers at this time and was clearly done by Wards- possibly for guarantee purposes when the instrument was shipped. I have a fair few Sears vended Supertone instruments and the only thing inside them is the catalogue number- which is rare and the Harmony date stamp. Indeed, the catalogue number may have been stamped by Harmony, as often it can be in a place that would not lend itself to being accessible after the instrument was completed.

Well, so far we have lack of evidence which tells us little. I expanded the search for "guitar with AP stamped inside" and found this thread on UMGF from 2013 including this post by Joe Spann.

Quote:

---

I would suggest that this stamp is something added by the Gibson dealer.

Ackerman Piano Company of Marion, Ohio and Adams Piano Company (location unknown to me) are two possibilities.

Joe Spann

---

The OP there found a Gibson L-0 guitar from the 1930s with that stamp and the fuzzy photo looks like the same stamp. Others posted having seen Larson guitars including a huge Prairie State with that stamp, so it could have been a retailer who sold both brands.

Here's the stamp inside the L-0:

Attachment 195985

Thanks Jim! That's the kind of information I was hoping to find. It's cool to see that it exists on other instruments and also instruments coming from different factories. I think Mr. Spann's theory makes the most sense. I had forgotten his book has the section on Gibson dealers circa 1935. Fun stuff! Thanks again!
:mandosmiley: