Posted by thecowpokepicker on Saturday, April 10, 2010
Well, this mornin' I was strolling around the Peavly Flea Market, it was totally packed. Since I knew there would be tons of people there and maybe, hopefully, a deal on some sort of antique instrument for sale, I had brought 25 bucks with me. Good thing.
Then, I started to feel that I was in the presence of an instrument. Somehow. Anyway, I came upon a guy who had antiques; and the pull started. Paintings from the 1800's. Civil war knifes. Guns. Books. And then, I saw it. A very, very old autoharp- pianoette. There was a huge crack that started at the top, went through the soundhole, and down to the end. There were about three other big cracks on the back. I turned it back over, and I noticed how dusty it was. I wiped some of it off, and it turned out it was stained purple! There was the most beautiful design with red and gold around the soundhole; a little golden harp on each side, little gold and red curly things, and atthe bottom, a lute crossing necks with a guitar. Then, I looked up in the left top corner. A very pretty design of what appeared to be a ship on an ocean with land to the right in the background, four shields at the near bottom, and two crossing American Flags at the top. I looked down to the bottom of the logo, and it said:
"SPECIAL
PANAMA MODEL
1915"
1915! It was 95 years old! I quickly asked the man how much he wanted for it; he said twenty five bucks and it was mine. And so, I bought it, cleaned it up; and it turned out to be a very...beautifuly odd... old instrument. All the tuners were still intact, although I really don't know how to use them. Only six strings left, ha ha. But I bought another autoharp before that: Oscar Shcmit or something like that, that also had missing strings. It was a 36 stringer; however, this one was 42 stringed. Wow!!~ I knew the average was only 36 or 37.
Does anybody know about this? I really don't have much experiance with the likes of autoharps.
Thanks and happy pickin'
4 comments on “How mysterious... ???”
banjotef Says:
Saturday, April 10, 2010 @2:38:46 PM
Can we see some pics?
robin wells Says:
Saturday, April 10, 2010 @10:59:11 PM
This could be a Panama Pacific International Exposition piece that was created to commemorate the opening of the canal. There was an exposition at San Francisco in 1915. If you Google the P.P.I.E
this might give you more information. Sounds like a great find, way to go!!!
Robin
thecowpokepicker Says:
Sunday, April 11, 2010 @7:22:23 AM
Thanks, Robin!
stanger Says:
Sunday, April 11, 2010 @3:33:10 PM
A lot of variations on the Autoharp were made over the years. The Autoharp itself is a variation of the traditional European zither, which is a fairly difficult instrument to play.
Pics would help- I have a friend who is really into them, and may be able to give some info.
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