unseasonably large tortoise shell pick?

[Josh Brown]

So I recently got an old old Vega Banjo-Mandolin (1909) and in its original case were three tortoiseshell picks - one of which is like two and a half times larger than the others & shaped a bit like an elongated "teardrop" pick. I'd never seen or heard of picks this big so I sorta dismissed it as a novelty gag for a while but it turns out its very playable and sounds rad.

Does anyone know if such large picks are a turn-of-the-century thing? or a tortoise thing? or a fluke? or what???

[Bertram Henze]

Now put that trussrod cover back into the case...

Photo?

[Tim2723]

Check around in the Classical section. I'm not sure, but I remember those guys talking about very elongated picks used for classical playing. I think they called them 'Neapolitan' picks or a word like that. There are some Asian instruments that use very large plectrums, but I doubt those would be found with a mandolin.

[jso]

Real tortoise shell?

What a good thing (for tortoises and turtles) we've developed plastics, nylons and such like!

[Jim Garber]

Yes, I think you have a Neapolitan pick. There is also the Roman style pick, roughly 3 inches long but with two sharp points on either end. There is the Pettine pick made of celluloid which he made in a very small style and a larger one.

[Jim Garber]

Yes, I think you have a Neapolitan pick. There is also the Roman style pick, roughly 3 inches long but with two sharp points on either end. There is the Pettine pick made of celluloid which he made in a very small style and a larger one.

(the two pick photos on the left are from Michael Reichenbach's site.)

[Marty Jacobson]

Jim, that double-ended pick is interesting .. almost like an Oud plectrum.

[Jim Garber]

Standard pick for Ranieri style classical playing. Ralf Leenen is a virtuoso of this style of playing.

[Mike Bunting]

Do they not usually grow as large in the winter?

[FLATROCK HILL]

Do they not usually grow as large in the winter?

It's just hard to find enough salt, pepper and paprika for the soup.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Taken from the Forum Guidelines:

•Posts dealing in the sale or transfer of tortoise-shell products protected by the 1973 Endangered Species act are not allowed and will be removed. This includes picks made from "antique" shells.

I understand the the OP is not attempting to sell or transfer any prohibited item. I do wonder though, whether his inadvertant acquisition of those items is in any way a violation of that 1973 act. Are you even allowed to own them now?

[JeffD]

Now put that trussrod cover back into the case...

Maybe its the pickguard?

[Jim Garber]

I think you can own them but not sale or transfer and I would not travel with any. I had found an article about the subtleties of the law but can't seem to locate it at the moment.

[foldedpath]

Some degree of "inadvertent transfer" of prohibited materials is inevitable, when acquiring antique instruments. I acquired a broken-but-repairable bowlback mandolin last year, by rescuing it from a trash pile at the town dump. It has a tortoise pickguard. As rabid a defender of hawksbill turtles as I am (see previous posts here), I wasn't going to let that mandolin end up in the local landfill, just to avoid the transfer of ownership.

The forum rules are there for a reason, but since we do sometimes deal with antique instruments (and in some cases, picks) made of this material, I think a certain degree of discussion might be allowed in a historical, non-mercantile, context. That's up to the forum owner and mods of course, just tossing my $.02 in there.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Thanks Guys,
Since I posted that question, I did some research myself. After reading (or at least trying to read) that Act of 1973, my conclusion is that there is no clear answer. If I read it correctly, even simple possession could be considered a violation. The exception would be the age of the material (over 100 years), and the manner in which it was acquired. Although it sounds like the burdon of proof would fall on the prosecution, that may not be the case.

[Jim Garber]

This discussion is actually about the size and shape of the pic, not really the material. There were celluloid picks in that shape made even in the 1920s. I don't even know that the OP knows for sure that the pick in question is genuine TS.