Vintage Italian bowlback mandolin for sale
I have had this mandolin for a long time now, as did my dad before me. He inherited it from an elderly aunt when he was a kid and never played it as far as I know. I got it from him not long after I started playing guitar (about 15 years ago) and I've never played it either. I've been meaning to put it up for sale for a long time but just never got around to it.
Just after I got it from my dad I had some work done on it to bring the action down and loosen up the machine heads, basically to make it playable, but I could just never get my fingers to work on that little fretboard.
I posted a query about it on the Mandolin Café back in May 2005 and discovered that it was probably not worth a great deal to anyone but a collector and was probably made around the turn of the 20th century. I never followed up with the sale, until now!
I just put a classified ad up at the Mandolin Café which reads as follows:
My dad inherited this instrument from an aunt when he was a child. I would guess that the instrument dates from the early 20th century, certainly before 1931 when my dad was born. The label inside reads:
CARLO LORENZO
Stabilimento Musicali,
STRADA DE ONORIO
NAPOLII have posted some info and photos on flickr:
I'm located in Luxembourg and would prefer to sell within Europe, but I would be willing to consider shipping farther afield if the logistics could be arranged to both parties' satisfaction.
To be honest, I'm not sure of the instrument's value so am looking for serious offers.
My eBay username is thecamser, so you can check my feedback and credentials. I'm a regular on many guitar forums with the username Cams so credentials can be verified that way also (
I'm also now in talks with the luthier that built my favourite guitar to have him build me a folk mandolin that will match the guitar. The proceeds of this will go towards that, although they will likely make only a small dent in the cost of the new one!
I'm posting here more because of the blog worthiness of the content, but I guess there might also be a slim chance that someone out there will see this post and take an interest. Feel free to contact me if you fancy an antique Italian bowlback mandolin in good playable condition!
