Posted 12 years ago
EWUNIA
(1 item)
Hello there! Does anyone know ANYTHING about this piece? I've been trying to do some amateur research and gather it is a banjolin made by "Jetel", maybe from the 1920s-1930s in either France or England.
Can anyone offer up any information on it?
Thank you!
Post a close up of the plaque with the Jetel name.
JETEL
"Jetel" was the unofficial trade mark of J. Thibouville-Lamy & Co., of 10 Charterhouse Street, London, E.C., a firm which was established in Paris in 1790. They were large manufacturers of every type of brass and wood instrument ' who advertised their extensive "steam factories at Grenelle, La Couture and Mirecourt." At the latter they made a wide range of guitars and mandolins. Soon after they opened their London house in 1880 they included banjos and (after 1888-Ed.) zither-banjos among the goods they sold but these were apparently made for them by Matthews, Windsor and Houghton (of Birmingham) and Temlett and Wilmslow (of London). 'The majority of the instruments sold under their name were made in their own factories in France but these never included banjos and zither-banjos. In one of their 250-page catalogues dated 1905 they offered a range of unfretted banjos from 3s. 8d up to the "Artist" model (fretted and with 30 brackets) 'or ?3.10.0. Their range of zither--banjos was priced from ?1.2.0 to ?5.14.0. A 1924 catalogue of the company included a range of banjos from ?3.16.0 to ?12 whilst zither-banjos bearing the "Jetel" trade mart, were sold from ?3 to ?6.10.6.
http://www.whitetreeaz.com/vintage/brit2.htm
This one doesn't say Jetel, I actually got that information from the exact paragraph you posted! I just happened to find a picture of one with that same back with the clown and that one had a Jetel label on it.
On this link , the bottom left has one with the same/ similar back and that one says " Jetel" http://www.springersmusic.co.uk/Library/Tenor%20Banjo%20collection.htm