Here are some additional photos. Thanks, Bill

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Originally posted by wannabe picker

Here are some additional photos. Thanks, Bill

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Personally I don't see the Temlett connection Bill. The rim bracket bolts look similar to some I've seen on Spencers banjos.  

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Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

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Originally posted by wannabe picker

Here are some additional photos. Thanks, Bill

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Personally I don't see the Temlett connection Bill. The rim bracket bolts look similar to some I've seen on Spencers banjos.  

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Thank you John. I understand you know your Temletts.

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Originally posted by wannabe picker

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Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

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Originally posted by wannabe picker

Here are some additional photos. Thanks, Bill

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Personally I don't see the Temlett connection Bill. The rim bracket bolts look similar to some I've seen on Spencers banjos.  

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Thank you John. I understand you know your Temletts.

 

I'll see if I can get some photos for you later today.

I think you're right John. Here are a couple of photos I found of a Spenser. Only differences that I can see are screws instead of bolts for the hook shoes and the head stock design. Fret board is nearly identical.

https://classic-banjo.ning.com/forum/topics/richard-spencer-antique-fretless-banjo-for-sale-at-low-price

...and here is what appears to be a much more modern Spenser and the head stock is nearly identical to mine. Thanks soooooooooooo very much for that info. You people are such a fantastic source for information. I don't know how to thank you enough.

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Originally posted by wannabe picker

...and here is what appears to be a much more modern Spenser and the head stock is nearly identical to mine. Thanks soooooooooooo very much for that info. You people are such a fantastic source for information. I don't know how to thank you enough.

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Sorry but no. Richard (Dick) Spencer died in 1915. 

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Originally posted by wannabe picker

...and here is what appears to be a much more modern Spenser and the head stock is nearly identical to mine. Thanks soooooooooooo very much for that info. You people are such a fantastic source for information. I don't know how to thank you enough.

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I know very little about English banjos, but I'd guess that the Asian-built banjo pictured above has no connection to British-built Spencer banjos. Just happens to have the same name.

Here is a Spencer I have awaiting appropriate tuners and tailpiece. The Richard Spencer shop turned out a great many banjos. Most were made for retail by others but occasionally they turn up with his own stamp, probably made to sell to his students. Check out the way the dowel is stamped in particular and of course the rim bracket (shoe) bolt.

Is that an old legal parchment that they used for head? It looks like some sort of property deed. I suppose these would have been made from similar material at the time and worked ok?

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Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

Here is a Spencer I have awaiting appropriate tuners and tailpiece. The Richard Spencer shop turned out a great many banjos. Most were made for retail by others but occasionally they turn up with his own stamp, probably made to sell to his students. Check out the way the dowel is stamped in particular and of course the rim bracket (shoe) bolt.

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Very nice. Is that your work so far? I don't have this banjo in hand yet, probably next week sometime. Then I can examine it more closely. No other mark is visible in the sellers photos, but your head stock is a  dead ringer for mine. Thank you very much.

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Originally posted by gentrixuk

Is that an old legal parchment that they used for head? It looks like some sort of property deed. I suppose these would have been made from similar material at the time and worked ok?

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Using old legal parchment is a technique that a lot of antique dealers used to (and perhaps still) use to add age and presumed value to otherwise low valued items. In the days before the Internet info on antiques was not easy to get so antique dealers took advantage of of that.  
 

it is possible that the use was innocent, but I don't put anything past antique dealers.  In the US, depending on what part you are in, everything gets turned into "Wild West" or "federal" artifacts. 

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Originally posted by Joel Hooks

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Originally posted by gentrixuk

Is that an old legal parchment that they used for head? It looks like some sort of property deed. I suppose these would have been made from similar material at the time and worked ok?

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Using old legal parchment is a technique that a lot of antique dealers used to (and perhaps still) use to add age and presumed value to otherwise low valued items. In the days before the Internet info on antiques was not easy to get so antique dealers took advantage of of that.  
 

it is possible that the use was innocent, but I don't put anything past antique dealers.  In the US, depending on what part you are in, everything gets turned into "Wild West" or "federal" artifacts. 

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Yes to both of you. As I first looked at It I wondered if the parchment was worth more than the banjo. lol,Bill

I may patch it, and frame it.

Don't know about Temlett nor Spencer, but I love those pegs!

There used to be a music shop in Leeds called Sykes, but I can't find a mention of H Sykes anywhere. Here is a photo of the shop.

There was an A. P. Sykes Music (see attached below).

Thank you Mark & Joel. Very cool.

Harry Sykes was a banjo performer and teacher in Leeds and gave his address as 49 Albion Street which was the music shop in the photo. Possibly Henry Sykes (1867-1943) who was the son of John William Sykes and a professional musician. There are some banjo arrangements by Harry Sykes at:

archive.org/details/BanjoBijou.../mode/2up

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Originally posted by nickll

Harry Sykes was a banjo performer and teacher in Leeds and gave his address as 49 Albion Street which was the music shop in the photo. Possibly Henry Sykes (1867-1943) who was the son of John William Sykes and a professional musician. There are some banjo arrangements by Harry Sykes at:

archive.org/details/BanjoBijou.../mode/2up

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That's great info. There is a mention of Harry Sykes as a teacher in this profile of Alfred Kirby.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.zither-banjo.org.uk/pages/Kirby2.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiPuaCQjaXtAhVzoVwKHQ4SAlwQFjACegQIDBAB&usg=AOvVaw1__kday_J6fJg41BJV1lOm

So, do we think the banjo belonged to Harry Sykes, or was he maybe selling banjos with his stamp on to his students? Or perhaps he was well known enough to sell branded banjos through the family shop?

Appears to have been quite a well-known performer and I would guess they were for sale to the public through the Sykes shop or students at his American Banjo Studio. He was an agent for Bohee Clipper banjos in late 1880s

I sold a fretless a couple of months back with H SYKES stamps but imo made by Temlett. It appears to have been common practice for teachers to sell to students.

The vellum that has been reused as a banjo head is a 17th century property indenture. In that period these documents were commonly drawn up where a major (usually remote) landowner was dividing a large holding in a parish and selling as parcels of land and property to the local yeoman farmers. and artisans.

I've been transcribing many, many of these in the course of my early Quaker research, with many more that I've photographed at the county archive and now on file awaiting transcribing and examination. The bold headings and standard format leap off the page as identifying what this document is. With my researcher's hat on can I request...

Please, please please, don't discard this vellum when you remove it to renovate your banjo. It is a valuable historical document and part of our heritage that belongs in the relevant county archive; even as a fragment/partial document. It will indicate in the first two lines which parish and county this indenture relates to. The details still legible in the document could be the key information and sole existing documentary evidence for identification of land/property for a future researcher. 

Actually a closer look at your photo and the calligraphic style (which on your vellum is easily readable) indicates this document is later than 17th century when documents were written in characteristic earlier archaic script. Your vellum is more likely late 18th or early 19th century. But the principles and my request remain the same. Part of the visible text mentions London; the Middlesex, Surrey and Kent county archives will have websites and contact details for their Head Archivist.

Here is a section of one of my complete 17th century indentures (1660) photographed with permission at the Somerset County Archive in Taunton for comparison.

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Originally posted by m06

Actually a closer look at your photo and the calligraphic style (which on your vellum is easily readable) indicates this document is later than 17th century when documents were written in characteristic earlier archaic script. Your vellum is more likely late 18th or early 19th century. But the principles and my request remain the same. Part of the visible text mentions London; the Middlesex, Surrey and Kent county archives will have websites and contact details for their Head Archivist.

Here is a section of one of my complete 17th century indentures (1660) photographed with permission at the Somerset County Archive in Taunton for comparison.

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Hello Mike. That is all great information to have. Thanks for taking the time to share it. I definitely had already planned to preserve it. I'm not sure exactly sure how yet but the writing is so beautiful I would never toss it out. I may simply try to frame it in a glass frame just the way it comes off the banjo, just to preserve what's left of it. Thank you again Mike. Stay safe and well, Bill

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Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

I sold a fretless a couple of months back with H SYKES stamps but imo made by Temlett. It appears to have been common practice for teachers to sell to students.

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Wow Stephen. THAT IS A BEAUTY!