Vintage 1920s Harmony made Montgomery Ward Metal Shell Banjo Ukelele Original Gold Paint, Nut,Tuners, Top Head, Adjustment Key Very Good Condition
This is a Harmony made Metal Shell Banjo Ukelele sold through Montgomery Wards catalogs under their Concertone or Wards "The Dixie".
It has the Original Tuners which work properly, Original Nut, the Original Head and the Original Paint on the Body and Neck. It also has the Original Adjustment Key and the Original Tag that was on It when I found It saying "Banjo Uke" and "Ward" where it came from Mongomery Ward.
Some Information:
"The Gold Paint Uniformity: Because the instrument combined two completely different materials—a cast-metal body and a wooden neck—manufacturers heavily sprayed both pieces with the thick, metallic bronze-powder paint. This hid the mismatched materials and made the entire instrument look like a seamless, uniform piece of bright golden hardware.
The Pegs: The Bakelite friction pegs were molded directly onto metal screws. This allowed the player to tighten a small screw on the back of the peg to keep the string from slipping, which was a massive upgrade over the older all-wood pegs.
The plastic Bakelite tuning pegs confirm this Instrument is from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s.
During the early 1920s, budget banjo ukuleles typically used simple wooden violin-style friction pegs. The shift to colored Bakelite buttons—often in dark burgundy, cream, or black—marked a major step up in both visual style and tuning stability for mass-produced catalog instruments.
While Montgomery Ward distributed these, they did not build them. The Dixie arrangement—characterized by its distinct one-piece cast metal body and a wooden neck bolted onto it—was manufactured in large quantities during the 1920s and 1930s by major Chicago-based instrument firms like Stromberg-Voisinet (which later became Kay) and Harmony. They were heavily distributed through mail-order catalogs.
The Gold Paint
The gold-colored paint covering the cast-metal body and the back of the wooden neck is a classic example of bronze powder lacquer.
The Process: The manufacturer sprayed the cast-metal pot and the wood neck with a metallic flake finish to make the industrial metal parts look uniform, vibrant, and decorative.
This paint does not contain actual elemental gold; it consists of finely ground copper and zinc (brass/bronze) alloy particles. "
Please look at all pictures Closely and Ask any questions I may have left out.
The pictures constitute the majority of the description for this Item.
Unit will come carefully and specially packed in Its own Brand New Gig Bag (shown in pictures) and Insured.