These are still used with gut or nylon strings. Steel strings may cause them to break or shatter. A simple tailpiece, generally found on banjo ukes. See also Benary, Fairbanks. Early commercial tailpieces were often made of wood, frequently ebony.
Earliest ones have two small holes to pass the gut through to tie on to the banjo.
Later, they were rivited to a metal piece. Here are a series of tailpieces with no identification. Marked Daisy identified by Joe Hornung Thanks to Jim Atherton, Duke Beattie, Derek Blomerth, Jeff Chumley, Wyatt Fawley, Frank Ford, Sante Giuliani, Steve Hanes, Norbert Hausmann, Caitlin Xantha Hazen, Don Hergert, Joe Hornung, Richard Kelley, Bob Lincoln, Rick Loftus, Calvin Minner, Marc Perdue, Bob Pliskin, Annie Roach, Dave Ross, Hank Schwartz, Steve Sinerchia, Lew Stern, Juel Ulven, Richard Walker, Arni Zobrist, among others, for suggestions, pictures, and descriptions. All others by the author. I designed a reproduction of the Kershner Unique when I co-owned Minalco with Alberto Vazquez, and we contracted to have them made overseas.