(Serial No. none) Joseph Bohmann was born in Germany and immigrated to the US in 1868 and settled in Chicago. Bohmann had a standing wager of $10,000 (in the early 1900s!) that he could build the fanciest mandolin in the world. This is the instrument he would bring out if challenged. This is a typical bowlback of the period with a canted top of Adirondack spruce. The bowl is Brazillian rosewood with 40 fluted ribs, interlaced between each rib with silver. The are 8 (or 11, depends how you count them) layers of binding. The fretboard is engraved abalone and pearl. The back of the neck is overlaid with genuine tortoise shell, and the front pickguard is tortose shell as well. The small volute on the back of the peghead is snail pearl. The tuners are enclosed with an engraved German silver backplate dated 1891. The tuner buttons are genuine pearl, and the tailpiece is one piece cast bronze. There is extensive pearl inlay everywhere, even on the bottom of the bowl. The bridge is a modern replacement. Comes with a period hard case.
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