1870's-1890 Antique Vintage Fretless Shield Bracket 5-string Minstrel Banjo

Description

1870's-1890 Antique Vintage Fretless Shield Bracket 5-string Open Back Minstrel Banjo
This is a long-used fretless Minstrel Banjo that may have been crafted in the early Buckbee banjo factory in New York. Although this banjo has the form of a Buckbee banjo it may have been made elsewhere; there is no maker's mark or label.  The square tapered brass nuts and bent brass hooks like those on this banjo were fairly common in the post civil war era, but not many of these old banjos have survived in such good playable condition. This is not a reproduction of a 19
th
Century banjo  but the actual original item with a solid (Black Walnut ?)  neck, a 1/4" thick bent Maple rim covered with nickel-plated brass and 16 original cast brass "shield" brackets.  Shield brackets, nuts, and hooks like the ones on this banjo are listed in musical merchandise catalogs into the early 20th century - long after whole new banjos of this configuration had ceased to be popular and available.  The wooden (Ebony?) tailpiece looks original and is held on by what looks like a rawhide or gut cord.  An old chipped ceramic furniture knob projects from the dowel rod to tie the tailpiece cord to.  There is an old bone nut. A collector of antique banjos,  re-enactor or old time banjo music enthusiast would really enjoy the playability and patina of this survivor .  The neck looks like Black Walnut- a deep reddish brown- and has a slight "v" contour below the 5th string and is rounded above the 5th string peg. The fingerboard is marked with various lengths of thin saw kerfs to assist the banjo player in knowing where the fingers go to make accurate pitches with the strings. This banjo has a 5th string peg which is inserted into the neck perpendicular to the fretboard as most modern banjos do.  In addition to the round wooden dowel stick, this banjo has an easily-removable wooden crosspiece (see the photos) which has helped preserve the roundness of the rim and is held in place by friction.
This banjo comes with a vintage pasteboard banjo case to keep it safe, nylgut minstrel strings and a dark wood spillway dam-style bridge. It has an actual (non-original) calfskin head in good condition. The tuning pegs appear to be solid Ebony.  The tuning pegs work smoothly and easily and the banjo has an authentic minstrel banjo tone.
I am including a spare 1/2' tall bridge made of rock Maple and stamped "F. B. CONVERSE."  I don't know if this is an authentic original 1865-72 Banjo Bridge or an accurate reproduction (more likely a repro.) but it does match the illustration in “Converse’s New and Complete Method For the Banjo,” a.k.a. the “Green Book” published way back then.
Measurements: 34" long, 2-1/2" deep 11"rim, approx. 1-3/8" nut, approx. 25.5' scale
Shipping will be a flat rate of .00 economy shipping, fully insured, to anywhere in the 48 contiguous U.S. states and actual cost elsewhere; please ask for a shipping quote if you'd like to know how much it will be before you bid/buy.   Local pick-up is free if the banjo has already been paid for via PayPal. Please ask any questions you have before bidding. Thanks for reading the entire description.