IMBanjoJim - Posted - 02/20/2026:  18:05:37

Hi everybody. I just got an old banjo, probably 1860s, from a prominent collector. There is no name on it, and I am wondering if anyone here has a similar banjo that does have a name on it?
12 inch pot, brass pot is 4 1/4 inches deep, neck is 21 1/2 inches from the nut to the pot.

 

Alvin Conder - Posted - 02/21/2026:  04:50:34

Well…….thats really an exceptional one. Congrats!

No idea of the maker.

Alvin Conder - Posted - 02/21/2026:  07:42:11

Jim,

For the heck of it, could you post more detailed photos? Especially of the 5th string set up. I don’t ever recall seeing anything like that.

From the little I can see of your photos, I am assuming that it is British in manufacture. Do you have any provenance, or ideas as to area of manufacture?

IMBanjoJim - Posted - 02/21/2026:  08:35:59

Alvin: I was assuming it was a New York build, not a British one, but who knows?

 

Alvin Conder - Posted - 02/21/2026:  12:45:44

I’m no expert on these early ones, just love them, but when I see evidence of machining and the like applied to an instrument as old as yours, I jump to what is most likely an incorrect assumption. That incredible set up for the 5th string led me to assuming it’s British.

I do know that “Steam Nerds” ( not sure what they really go by) can age a piece of machinery and manufacture location of make just by the thread count and pitch on a screw.

Wonderful instrument. Thanks for the pictures. Enjoy it, as I know you will.

IMBanjoJim - Posted - 02/21/2026:  13:43:45

OK…the suggestion has been made that this could be a British instrument.
Any British collectors care to comment?

EEB - Posted - 02/21/2026:  14:32:41

The metal plate at the 5th peg serves no obvious design purpose, as it’s not a wear point. Also the screw heads are raised in crude fashion rather than countersunk and flush with the fingerboard which would be usual practice for partially plated boards.

That makes me wonder if that plate is a later repair?

Overall dimensions, including scale length and pot depth, are quite common in early to mid-1870's English manufacture. We have, if I recall, two references to brass pot banjos from London industrial exhibitions before they were made common by Spratt and Tilley in the mid-1880's. 

Edited by - EEB on 02/21/2026 14:46:10

IMBanjoJim - Posted - 02/21/2026:  14:46:58

Here is a slightly different angle of the metal at the 5th peg…

 

Andy FitzGibbon - Posted - 02/21/2026:  15:13:59

Nothing about it looks British to me.

EEB - Posted - 02/21/2026:  16:46:52

In that date range, if it was English it would be more likely to be a 6 or 7-string. In more general terms in regard to the contemporary use of brass in banjo manufacture, this is an extract from an account of the South London Industrial Exhibition, March 1865:

South London Industrial Exhibition, March 1865

 

IMBanjoJim - Posted - 02/21/2026:  16:57:43

EEB: thanks for posting that. Sounds to me as if it is more likely an American banjo.

Stephen John Prior - Posted - 02/22/2026:  03:50:15

I tend to agree with it being American made. I've not seen similar from a British maker.

Joel Hooks - Posted - 02/22/2026:  05:51:18

All of this presumes that the OP banjo originated between 1860 and 1870. While this is possible, being unique, unattributed, and unmarked means that this is only based on guesses. The 1860-1870 is the golden decade for the “banjo collector” due to the years 1861-1864.

This banjo could easily be earlier (unlikely) or later.

csacwp - Posted - 02/22/2026:  08:56:36

Yes, while this banjo looks American to me as well, I'm not sold on the 1860s date. It could be later or earlier. There's often no way to tell.

IMBanjoJim - Posted - 02/22/2026:  10:34:05

Thanks for the comments!
I have two other brass pot banjos to compare this one to:
In book 2, Collecting More Banjos, pg. 29, a Tilton banjo, patented in 1866, has a brass body, 8 connectors (not hooks), and the pot diameter is smaller, 11 inches. And the pot is 3 inches deep.
In bk. 3, Even More Banjos, pg.12, brass body, 14 inch pot, 4 inches deep, 8 hooks, and the original owner info has him playing this in the 1860s and 1870s.
So the banjo I just got has a brass pot, 12 inch diameter, and is 4 1/4 deep. And 8 hooks.
Not sure if these comparisons prove anything. The brass pot Tilton, patented in 1866, was probably patented for the apparatus inside the pot that connected the skin head, and not the brass pot itself.