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Banjo (Whyte Laydie model, style no. 7)
A. C. Fairbanks Co. (American, 1890 – 1904)
about 1904
Object Place: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Medium/Technique
Maple, nickel silver, celluloid, ebony, mother-of-pearl
Dimensions
Length 95 cm, diameter 30.3 cm (Length 37 3/8 in., diameter 11 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Foster Charitable Fund
Accession Number1997.64
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionRim of maple with banding of plastic in tortoiseshell pattern and stringing of wood at lower edge in herringbone pattern. "Whyte Laydie" style tone ring system of nickel silver with thirty-one "cobra" hooks and hexagonal ball-end nuts. Period adjustable wire arm rest of nickel silver. Neck of maple, carved in foliate design at heel. Headstock of maple sandwiched between pieces of ebonized pearwood or maple. Tuning pegs of gold-plated brass with knobs of pearl. Fingerboard of ebony with binding of ivory and twenty frets of nickel silver. Fingerboard, neck heel, and both faces of headstock inlaid with pearl engraved with foliate designs and head of griffin. Nut of ivory. Bridge (later) of maple.
InscriptionsEngraved into nickel silver plate on perch pole: The A. C. FAIRBANKS Co. / MAKERS / BOSTON, MASS.; stamped on perch-pole: 23490 WHYTE LAYDIE NO 7
ProvenanceAbout 1991, sold by Jim Bollman, Arlington, Massachusetts, to a street performer, New York; 1997, sold by same street performer to Jim Bollman; 1997, sold by Jim Bollman, the Music Emporium, Inc., Lexington, Massachusetts, to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 21, 1997)
Crinoline, about 1904
Composed by F.C. Musselbrook
Performed by Geoff Freed