Results 1 to 20 of 20

Thread: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

  1. #1

    Default Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    This at a quick glance looks to be okay- the bling is spectacular and the price is eminently sensible assuming there are no issues that need resolving.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/19500088271...0AAOSwcbBiZZdg

  2. #2
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    1,986

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    That's super cool looking. I love the moon and star and other inlays.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Thanks for the note, and especially the attribution. Means you’ve got a catalog reference? Is the decoration just high end, or related to some social group? Price plus shipping is not that modest for the species, but it does look well-preserved. Top mounted engraved tuner plates also attractive.

  4. #4
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ann Arbor/Austin
    Posts
    6,281

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Good post.

    Pretty nice looking US bowl. Bling is very well integrated into the overall design.

    Good price / quality.

    Somebody ought to jump on this one.

    Mick
    Last edited by brunello97; Apr-26-2022 at 12:06pm.
    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
    ______________________

    '05 Cuisinart Toaster
    '93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
    '12 Stetson Open Road
    '06 Bialetti expresso maker
    '14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig

  5. #5

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Not the same model but probably not so different under the bling:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttBjU0SfERc

  6. #6
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ann Arbor/Austin
    Posts
    6,281

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    The Bauer / Philadelphia connection seems a solid proposition on the Ebay one.

    Sears labeled their things pretty clearly, though.

    Not sure that the link to Sears is an essential one to make, other than perhaps some similar ones may have been sold by Sears with their label.

    Easy to start making simple things confusing around here.

    Nothing wrong with some bling if it's done right.

    Mick
    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
    ______________________

    '05 Cuisinart Toaster
    '93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
    '12 Stetson Open Road
    '06 Bialetti expresso maker
    '14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig

  7. #7

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Mick, you may well be right that it was not retailed by Sears. I did find this photo of a label on the UMGF and trust they do not mind me borrowing it. Is this label loose and removed from the mandolin?

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	ccb84e521029f658ebab0f63f6f419cb.jpg 
Views:	63 
Size:	15.6 KB 
ID:	200817

  8. #8
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ann Arbor/Austin
    Posts
    6,281

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    I strongly doubt it.

    I don’t see any necessity in linking the Bauer to any resellers.

    I know Jake does this and that’s sometimes his thing, but it adds confusion as often as it helps.

    Have you ever tried to scrape a label out of a bowlback?

    People here keep proposing that ‘the label fell out!’

    I don’t find that plausible in most cases. And I’ve had a junkyard of bowlback carcasses around here to testify to.

    Okay, I know, sure it might have happened now and then.

    Acme was a label / brand. Sears was a label / brand. (Though of course they had their own brand-names.)

    Linking a maker like Bauer inherently to them is wrong-headed in my opinion.

    Mick
    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
    ______________________

    '05 Cuisinart Toaster
    '93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
    '12 Stetson Open Road
    '06 Bialetti expresso maker
    '14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig

  9. #9

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Mick, I know you have made the point before, that a label in a bowl back is more or less permanent- a paper on paper gluing that stands the test of time- unlike paper on wood, in so many cases. I am more than happy to leave it just as Bauer and hope that somebody appreciative buys it.

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2022
    Location
    NE Florida
    Posts
    44

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    It looks like the Bauer connection is right. See the Steward & Bauer catalog.

  11. #11
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    1,986

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    It's sold.

    Thank goodness. I had to keep telling myself

    "You don't need this, you don't need this, you don't need this"

    Did one of you guys buy it?

  12. #12

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Sue, you did need it! I am safe- overseas. I might have been tempted had it been for sale internationally.

    With regard to the catalogue- is it the No. 40?

  13. The following members say thank you to NickR for this post:


  14. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2022
    Location
    NE Florida
    Posts
    44

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    I think the catalog is from 1899. It looks like the bowlback is 1903 because of the etching of the date in the upper inlay. So, it doesn't exactly match the catalog, but No. 40 is certainly a possibility. And the original case in the ebay listing is shown in the catalog.

  15. #14
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    It's really nice - the bling on the neck, the carving on the back of the neck - what is that, a bird? - the binding, and most of all, the back's great condition. I'm glad it fetched $300 - I'll bet it's worth it, and might even be a good deal at that point, a bit higher than usual. But then again, its condition is much better than usual.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  16. #15

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    I think at $300 was a good buy. This mandolin is up at $999 and it has the adornments but the bowl suggests it is not really in the same league:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/38467398862....c100667.m2042

  17. #16
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Had trouble loading pics on my balky backup computer. At the library, still having issues - but manageable.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville 1.jpg 
Views:	76 
Size:	433.0 KB 
ID:	200827 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville 3.jpg 
Views:	72 
Size:	461.9 KB 
ID:	200828 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville 5.jpg 
Views:	74 
Size:	356.0 KB 
ID:	200830 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville 4.jpg 
Views:	70 
Size:	397.0 KB 
ID:	200829 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville 2.jpg 
Views:	69 
Size:	356.4 KB 
ID:	200831 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville 6.jpg 
Views:	70 
Size:	393.5 KB 
ID:	200832 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Blingsville7.jpg 
Views:	70 
Size:	516.6 KB 
ID:	200833

    In addition to the bling and the solid state of the bowlback, there is that neck - looks so straight from the side. And there is that mystery carving on the heel of the neck.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  18. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to journeybear For This Useful Post:


  19. #17
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2022
    Location
    NE Florida
    Posts
    44

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    "It looks like the bowlback is 1903 because of the etching of the date in the upper inlay."
    Correction: the date is engraved in the inlay on the back of the headstock.

  20. #18
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ann Arbor/Austin
    Posts
    6,281

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    I think at $300 was a good buy. This mandolin is up at $999 and it has the adornments but the bowl suggests it is not really in the same league:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/38467398862....c100667.m2042
    Absolutely. What is $300 going to get you as any kind of a quality musical instrument?


    And this is certainly that…and beautiful as well.

    So many folks here remain dumbfounded by bowlbacks, or turned off by some poor quality or damaged model they might have tried.

    The video you linked, Nick, to Jake playing ought to be a wake-up call that the tired shibboleths of what you should or should not play on whatever type of mandolin are just that: tired.

    Everyone who enjoys playing mandolin should have one of these.

    Mick
    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
    ______________________

    '05 Cuisinart Toaster
    '93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
    '12 Stetson Open Road
    '06 Bialetti expresso maker
    '14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig

  21. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to brunello97 For This Useful Post:


  22. #19
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    1,986

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    This is one of those things I'm going to think about with a certain level of regret for a good long time.
    Had my finger on the button and took it off.

    I have to just keep on telling myself "You didn't need this ...... "

  23. #20
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Ann Arbor/Austin
    Posts
    6,281

    Default Re: Bauer Sears Acme Blingsville Bowlback

    Some photos of this lovely Bauer for posteriority.

    Mick
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Bauer Front.jpeg 
Views:	88 
Size:	433.0 KB 
ID:	200899   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Bauer Back.jpeg 
Views:	91 
Size:	397.0 KB 
ID:	200900   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Bauer Inlay.jpeg 
Views:	93 
Size:	504.8 KB 
ID:	200901  

    Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
    ______________________

    '05 Cuisinart Toaster
    '93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
    '12 Stetson Open Road
    '06 Bialetti expresso maker
    '14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig

  24. The following members say thank you to brunello97 for this post:


Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •