Posted 11 months ago
grok
(1 item)
I recently purchased this wonderful little mandolin and have no clue about its age or origin. If anyone has any clues they would be appreciated.
I has a beare and sons sticker visible in the sound hole and an accompanying sticker that has...CRYSTAL Mandolin A and a few German sayings. The back of the separate label says,"Made in Germany."
any ideas???
Vintage Guru Reveals Her Glamour Secrets
The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
The Beautiful Chaos of Improvisational Quilts
Our Dad, the Water Witch of Wyoming
This 1959 Goggomobil Is Insanely Cute and Gets 55 MPG. Why Can’t Detroit Do That?
California Cool: How the Wetsuit Became the Surfer's Second Skin
The Unfiltered History of Rolling Papers, Plus Tommy Chong's Big Fat Jamaican Vacation
World's Smallest Museum Finds the Wonder in Everyday Objects
Fightin’ Femmes: Unmasking Female Superheroes with Author Mike Madrid



The Crystal item looks to me like a packet for the mandolin strings, not a sticker. If its about 4" square, then that's probably what it is. Nice mandolin!
Beare & Son is a distributor in the UK. They are still in business today: http://www.beareandson.co.uk/
AFAIK they contracted out to various makers in a number of countries to make the instruments they sold. Yours resembles some American instruments sold by Sears and Roebuck under the Supertone label and possible made by the Harmony Company of Chicago.