Vintage BowlBack Mandolin worth.

[melodylynn2014]

I have this bowlback mandolin that was given to me by my grandma. As you can see from the pictures, There is a plate that says "J.M Panden and Co. Indianapolis IN"
The inside says "Trademark Imperial"
I googled the J.M Panden and Co. And found no information except that it was trademarked in 1897.
Any idea of the value of this?

http://imgur.com/a/JaOfu

[MikeEdgerton]

Unfortunately not very much. The only bowlback mandolins that bring any great amount of money are a very few known brands. Panden might not be the manufacturer. Many of these were built to be labeled by the trade. They could have been a distributor. They aren't listed in the Mugwumps encyclopedia of manufacturers but that's not all inclusive. Bowlbacks regularly fail to sell weekly on eBay. The value in this instrument should be in who you got it from. Some of our regular bowlback experts might be able to shed a little more light on it.

[melodylynn2014]

Thanks for the info. I just have it here collecting dust. It is a awesome instrument, just have no interest really.

[brunello97]

I checked on line at the Sanborn Insurance maps for Indianapolis but nothing definitive showed up relative to JM Panden at 21 S. Illinois.

In the 1887 Sanborn, 21 S Illinois is noted as a "dining room" in what looks like part of the "Occidental Hotel". No images of the hotel on line that I could find but a few newspaper notices and the backside of a postcard.

In the 1898 Sanborn, 21 S Illinois is no longer noted as dining room and has a 5 cent theater as a neighbor. The Occidental Hotel is noted as being "partially wrecked".

In the 1914 Sanborn, 21 S Illinois is gone altogether as an address. A new building--from 1914--has been built on the site and the street numbers adjusted. That building is also now gone and a much more recent building occupies the site.

A bit of a dead end. The Sanborn maps can sometimes be lucky resources. I've been able to turn up the series of old Oscar Schmidt buildings in NJ, the old Weymann bldg in Pennsylvania and the Waldo works up in Michigan. Nothing for Panden unfortunately.

Mike is certainly correct that Panden was a dealer not a maker. Wulschner/Regal instruments were likely still operating in 1898 in Indianapolis, so if I had to make a wild guess as to who made this instrument, it would be them.

Mick

[Jim Garber]

The only thing I can find is a patent granted to Joseph M. Panden shared with Burt Pierce for an apparatus that improves the tone of musical instruments. It sounds like a late 19th century Tone Rite.

Advice to the OP:this is a simple but probably decent mandolin but is not worth all that much. But, if you want to sell it be sure to show pictures of the back as well as the front. We don't even know what woods are on the back.

Better still: find someone in your family or a young person in your town who might want to learn to play it and give it to them.

[brunello97]

Wait a minute. A simple search for J.M. Panden, Indianapolis turns up some interesting things.

There's a listing for an assignment of "half" a patent to one J.M. Panden for some device for "improving the tone of musical instruments."

Also a newspaper ad "get the best bargains in musical instruments from J.M. Panden 188 West Washington Street old instruments taken in for new."

188 West Washington is also long gone.

Clearly Panden was a dealer, but the patent suggests some involvement with instruments besides selling. I still doubt they had anything to do with making this mandolin. But another address to check out on the Sanborn maps.

Mick

[allenhopkins]

Just looking at Google summaries, a Panden & Sickford store was listed in 1877 as selling "second-hand pianos and furniture" in the Indianapolis city directory; a Panden Brothers was shown in the 1890's, and there are several mentions in Indiana state officers' reports from the 1890's of payments to Panden Brothers for "music." Apparently a music store run by members of the Panden family who also performed.

I'd guess that they got their instruments from a regional manufacturer, and put the brass badges on before selling them at their store. "Imperial" was a trademark Wm. Cole of Boston used for mandolins, and Imperial mandolins have also been labeled "Cincinnati" (recent thread). The "Imperial" designation could have been used by a variety of manufacturers.

Here's a thread with extensive discussion of an unlabeled bowl-back with a similar headstock profile and lyre tailpiece. Some consensus that it might be of Lyon & Healy manufacture. The big Midwest instrument companies made many instruments jobbed out to dealers, who put their own labels on them

Not an top-quality instrument, almost certainly US-made, from c. 1900. In its current shape, I'd value it under $100. It's a family heirloom, and I'd keep it as such, maybe try stringing it up with extra-light strings, maybe just display it.