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Suggestion #1: To quote King Arthur and his knights from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "Run away!!"

Suggestion #2: If you're not ready to run away, fill the channel with the stiffest piece of...

$685 USD with gig bag at Elderly Instruments, who sell new instruments at standard market prices.

What did they sell for 10 years ago? I don't know, but I'll guess they've gone up quite a bit. ...

I'm afraid that my misses often outnumber my hits. I call a 95% match a bulls-eye. Dead center. I don't get those often.
The older I get, the more I cringe over touch-up work and try to talk...

If the instrument is indeed from the 1910's, the peghead was drilled for the old tuner post spacing.
Tuners with the modern post spacing may not work well.

If the nut is not causing the problem,...

You have three options:

1. Touch it up with some black paint formulated for model work from a hobby shop. This would only be a "cover-up," and how good it looks would depend on your skill with a...

If it is "loose finish," using the neck rest may or may not have induced a chemical reaction that contributed to the problem; but after seeing the clearer picture, I think that's rather unlikely. ...

I agree with John-- it looks a lot like an adhesion problem.

Time consuming to fix. It might or might not be possible to drop-fill it. The repair would be visible. The finish might come loose...

https://reverb.com/item/81599596-gibson-h-2-mandola-1920-sunburst

It's not an H-2. The more I look, the more I believe that it is most likely a 1910's plain style A mandolin, not a mandola.
...

Some lacquer finishes react with plastics and various other polymers.

In the 1990's and early 2000's, new Gibsons would react to the cushioning on some brands of guitar stands. This drove the...

Heritage Insurance Services https://musicins.com . . . not Heritage Property & Casualty-- they're a different company.
They do insurance for private owners, also for stores. Most of the better...

If it's a factory order number ink stamped on the neck block inside the mandolin, 1922, according to Spann's Guide to Gibson.

If it's a serial number on the label, 1911. But according to my...

I'll propose a solution for you.
You've already got an A-5 style mandolin that you like a lot.
So why not get an F-4 or an F-2? That way you get both the oval hole and the scroll body.

It just...

I've seen two of them, quite a few years ago.

I remember them as being typical Gibson products of the late 1930's. IIRC, at least one of them had a flat back, but I may be wrong-- I've slept a...

Weber mandolins have only been produced in the US.
Flatiron and Breedlove mandolins have been produced in both the US and overseas.
Bruce Weber, Steve Carlson, and Kim Breedlove have founded their...

That's an early post WWII Vega Tubaphone pot. I will guess it was made sometime in the early 1950's.
The neck does not remind me of any Vega product that I am familiar with, but we rarely see Vega...

That number is what is called a factory order number.
The letter indicates the year it was made, the numbers next to it are the "batch" number, and the last two numbers are the number of the...

Uh-huh. Good luck with that. The condition of the finish is the least of this instrument's problems.
And for the record, the next model up, and for the same amount of money [NFI]:...

It is [or was], a plain A. The estimated build date of 1921 is more or less accurate.
The logo, label, and bridge are typical of the mid 1930's. That would indicate that the mandolin was returned...

But if it's left under tension and there's a loose glue joint between the back and the rib, the rib will continue to distort, making the instrument harder to repair.

This probably can be fixed, but not easily. What would it cost? Probably hundreds. Maybe lots of hundreds.

The neck to body geometry on that mandolin has changed significantly. There could be...

If you see any signs of white glue, or heaven help us CA, "just say no."

Well, if you're lucky, someone has already squirted some glue in there, and the instrument is structurally stable, if not cosmetically correct.
But if not, chances are good that it will get a lot...

Your best bet might be the #0111 cream button from Stewmac.
The color and size may not be an exact match, but you will need the rectangular mounting hole to fit over the ears of your tuner shaft. ...

A word of advice to both inquirers, and anyone else who has this problem: Loosen the strings now to avoid complicating the problem!

One of the nice things about mandolins is that you can learn to make three chords with only two fingers, and play thousands of songs with those three chords.