beezaboy - Posted - 07/27/2016:  16:43:30

Craigslist.  Could use this banjo in our Orpheum Serial Number List.

If only I could be sure of the serial number shown in one of the pictures

.westernmass.craigslist.org/msg...9778.html

Can you make it out?

willanderson - Posted - 07/27/2016:  17:32:03

Best guess is 9553

dhergert - Posted - 07/27/2016:  17:45:08

Or, 5535, as close as I can make out, with no other knowledge about what numbers are possible for this model.

-- Don

Edited by - dhergert on 07/27/2016 17:46:01

Jim D - Posted - 07/27/2016:  18:54:52

The best I can do with enhancing it.... looks like 9535 ... but that first number is tough

Jim

csacwp - Posted - 07/27/2016:  19:17:14

It's a guitar banjo, not a cello banjo.

dhergert - Posted - 07/27/2016:  19:51:17

Good eyes!

-- Don

mbanza - Posted - 07/27/2016:  20:20:03

From the ad's "show contact info" button:  413 315 3219.  You could try calling the seller for clarification.

beezaboy - Posted - 07/28/2016:  02:43:41

Thanks for helping.  I always hate to call people who are selling a banjo and ask for serial number when I have no intention of buying.

G Edward Porgie - Posted - 07/28/2016:  08:00:28

quote:

---

Originally posted by beezaboy

 

Thanks for helping.  I always hate to call people who are selling a banjo and ask for serial number when I have no intention of buying.

---

I wouldn't worry about that, because you are doing research. You might even be able to inform the seller of a more accurate date than the listed "1920."

I'd be willing to guess that since this is a Craiglist item, that the seller has already gotten a slew of bogus calls, and probably a few un-kept promises of visits to see it. The seller might actually be relieved to get a call offering insight rather than bogus promises and lowball offers.

This is an unusual banjo and deserves to be documented. Anyone legitimate should feel the same way.

jims38134 - Posted - 07/28/2016:  08:17:57

last 2 digits are 34.  look at image "6" in the listing.

rmcdow - Posted - 07/29/2016:  06:50:08

I called the owner, the serial number is 9934.  The owner has a lot of banjos, he just acquired this one.  He thinks the tuners are not original, but they could be, as the pattern on the headstock underneath them when they are taken off is the same as the ones that are on there now.

Edited by - rmcdow on 07/29/2016 06:52:01

G Edward Porgie - Posted - 07/29/2016:  09:28:53

quote:

---

Originally posted by rmcdow

 

I called the owner, the serial number is 9934.  The owner has a lot of banjos, he just acquired this one.  He thinks the tuners are not original, but they could be, as the pattern on the headstock underneath them when they are taken off is the same as the ones that are on there now.

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I agree with the current owner that the tuners are not original. They look like a much newer design to me. The matching markings underneath are probably coincidence.

kyleb - Posted - 07/29/2016:  10:33:24

wouldnt this be called a guitar banjo?

beezaboy - Posted - 07/29/2016:  11:13:58

Rives -  Thank you.  Good work.

I sent an email but got no answer.