Hello.
I found this thread by coincident while looking for info around these mandolins.
The story is that a friends wife inherited a house, and during renovation of the house they found a locked mandoline case but no key. So they asked me if I was good at picking locks... Not realy, but I seldom says no to a challenge.
I piced the lock and found the mandolin on the pictures inside (it is not the original case).
With no knowledge of mandolins I started looking around the net to see if I could identify it, and found after a while that it is a Gibson Navy Army. Must be a early 20´s since the saddle is marked with a patent no from june 1921.
No one knows how it ended up here in Norway, Europe, and not when. Maybe they were still around in the navy during WWII, since this one is made after WWI?
The condition is for the age really good. No damages/repairs, and no cracks or any issues. Only some wear on the fret board, and the label inside the sound hole is missing. The slide on string cover has probably got lost sometime and a new one has been made of some kind of sheet metal. I guess a original is impossible to find... It´s got a nice patina, even on the strings, and all strings intact. I asked if they wanted to fix it up (I do some guitar works/luthiery) so it is playable (fret job and new strings), or if they just want to keep it like it is. Since noone of them plays mandolin (he plays bass guitar) they are talking about not touching anything and just keep the patina.
One question I have is does anyone know how many were made of these?
And is there any where to get info about what the value can be?
Cheers:
Kevin
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