This circa 1890s Monarch-brand 5-string was marketed by Stratton & Handley, but it was almost certainly made by J. H. Buckbee in New York City. It has many of the usual signs of Buckbee banjos of the era, such as metal neck inlays, an engraved metal cap at the end of the fingerboard, and a thin wood spun-over rim with lotsa hook & nut sets (38 in this case)). The rim diameter is 11 inches and the 17-fret ebony fingerboard has a string scale of 24 3/4”. 


The neck and dowel stick appear to be walnut. Three nuts don’t match the rest of the set and we’re assuming those three hooks may not match as well (we didn't disassemble it to check if all the threading matches). The tailpiece appears to be an older No-Knot but may not be an original of the era. The tuners on the headstock are recent 4-to-1 planets with grained ivoroid buttons, there’s a matching button on an old 5th peg. The Remo head appears to be quite recent. All the shoes match and it looks like all the mounting bolts for the shoes are original as well. 


Note that the dowel stick was cracked and repaired with a glued linen-wrap but it appears to be stable. The neck itself has no damage but the headstock facing is a mess with brushed-on finish of whatever clear stuff was handy on Mr. Fix-It’s paint shelf. The neck on this old banjo is quite straight and the frets are in OK shape, but the dowel stick hardware needs help.  What makes this old banjo a project is that it needs work to correct the neck angle so the string action is more reasonable. We suspect it has probably been strung with steel strings for quite some time, but it would be happier in the long run with nylon strings. Gryphon has done no repairs to this instrument, we are selling it just as we got it. 


We ship on the Wednesday following the end of the Sunday auctions.

 

Please don’t ask us to end auctions early. Unless there is an error in the listing, we don’t end auctions early.

 

If you have fewer than 10 feedback ratings, please check with us before you bid. 

 

If you have any questions or want extra detail photos, please ask. Please keep in mind that the items being auctioned are here at the store and if you ask us something when we’re closed, it will take a day or two to get back to you.