Looking for Paramount tenor harp info

[nmiller]

I've just purchased a Paramount tenor harp; I won't receive it for a few days, but I'm trying to do some research on it in the meantime. I'm broadly familiar with Paramount banjos and tenor harps, but this one is a bit unusual: a Style E, more ornate than most of them out there, and with an odd 6-string arrangement. The upper two courses are doubled, but not the lower two. I know that Paramount advertised 4-string ("single-strung") and 8-string ("double-strung") versions of their harps, but I haven't come across a catalog describing this one ("sesqui-strung"?). The only other Style E harp I’ve found (link) is also the only other 6-string tenor harp I’ve found; coincidence, or was the Style E normally a 6-string model? Anyone have a catalog out there showing or describing this model? Anyone know what years it was made?

I appreciate any relevant info you might have.

[Dolamon]

Great find. Paramount instruments are always interesting. Re identification. Have you looked through Mugwumps assorted collections? Michael passed away last year but he's left a lot of information on his website. http://www.mugwumps.com/ Like a lot of these instruments, they seem to have been made for Mummers parades, so there may be some photos of them being played amidst a bunch of feathers. Perhaps the construction oddity might be to enhance the higher strings which could be muffled by the wooden top? That is purely a guess, It's a New Year so that's allowed.

Enjoy - Dion

[nmiller]

No Paramount/Lange info on that site, unfortunately.