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Thread: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

  1. #1

    Default Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    There is a plate on the headstock on this mandolin from New York- and so much of this mandolin is American, I am wondering if some Italian mandolin maker did not arrive in the USA with a pocket full of Vinaccia labels! Of course, it may have been modified but that seems a bit extreme. Others may have their own views.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/26585608053...23a8%7Ciid%3A1

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    It has some issues, but $61.00, if you couldn't fix it, not a bad price for a wall-hanger.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Yes, it now has some bids but I have never seen a Vinaccia quite like it so I was wondering if it had been modified. You see that plate with its engraving on 1920s Regal made flat back mandolins.

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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    Yes, it now has some bids but I have never seen a Vinaccia quite like it so I was wondering if it had been modified. You see that plate with its engraving on 1920s Regal made flat back mandolins.
    Modified, as in a new headstock, new fretboard and new bowl?

    I’d like to see more photos of this.

    Some late 20’s Vinaccia bowls started to diverge widely from the iconic design of the early years, with some even looking very Calace-like.


    Mick
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  5. #5

    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Mick, are you also suggesting it is not a Vinaccia? I certainly have my doubts and wonder if it is being passed off as one many years ago.

  6. #6
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    Mick, are you also suggesting it is not a Vinaccia? I certainly have my doubts and wonder if it is being passed off as one many years ago.
    Nick, I can’t really form a firm opinion from the few photos, but it sure doesn’t look like an 1898 Vinaccia.
    That’s muy sketchioso.

    Never seen anything from i fratelli from that era that even vaguely resembles this….unless perhaps everything on it was replaced but the label.

    The design liberties that Vinaccia took that I was referring to were from the mid / late ‘20s.

    Mick
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  7. #7

    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    I have posted this photo of the label as it may magnify a little once posted making it possible to read the label a bit better. I really don't think it is by Vinaccia.

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  8. #8
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    I can’t say for 100% what how Vinaccia was constructing their necks but I always look for that veneer and “volute” (sorry, Mick) that is characteristic of even the lower-end Vinaccia’s. The back view shows a one piece neck. Yes, somewhat suspect. It also needs plenty of work.
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  10. #9

    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Can’t help with identification, but some of my interest in old things is how decay makes patina or plain rot. The celluloid plate, which is probably well on the road to detonation, shows no visible change in the white pattern, which I had thought was also the same material. It could be something else, though. Assuming that most inlays were die cut in production, not hand cut, and inlay cast in place. Anyone know?
    Haven’t tried to restore/duplicate any of these with inlay, figuring that, by hand, difficult and no fun. What, if anything, is done on instruments where the process is considered important?

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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    So apology necessary, Don Diego.

    I conceded on this issue a few years back and coincidentally just referred to a tiny one on a Harwood bowlback that a fellow recently posted in another thread.


    I tracked down the fossil volutes you were refering to.

    It now has me wondering if the 'architectural volute' that I was locked, might be an end-on view of the spiraled cone of the fossil.

    Glad you stuck with it.

    I learned something and now have another idea to track down.

    Mick
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  12. #11

    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    My 1890s Vinaccia has a separate headstock glued to the neck with a little piece glued above the joint although it is now missing. The headstock and neck of this mandolin is nothing like my Vinaccia- not remotely close.

  13. #12

    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Well, it made a whopping $305! I wonder if the buyer will be happy?

  14. #13
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    My 1890s Vinaccia has a separate headstock glued to the neck with a little piece glued above the joint although it is now missing. The headstock and neck of this mandolin is nothing like my Vinaccia- not remotely close.
    Yes, indeed. Same with my 1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia -- the little MOP piece got lost in the intervening decades, but I had it replaced when it was restored. See attached photo.

    Martin
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  16. #14
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fratelli Vinaccia 1898

    Many years ago when he worked on my Vinaccia my luthier was quite proud that he had in his parts box some MOP from the handle of a Colt revolver that he cut nicely to fit that pearl triangle on the volute area.
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