Mather Five-String Fretless Banjo
date: label: date made
content: 1860
name: label: maker
content: Mather, Fred P.
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This banjo is marked "F. P. Mather 1860." It is a Five-String Fretless Banjo, with a bird’s-eye maple shell, metal hoop, twenty brackets, brass-plated fingerboard, and machine tuners. Hand-written inscription on dowel stick:</p>
label: Description
content: <p>F. MATHER MAKER 1860</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Fred Mather was a well-known minstrel banjoist of the mid-19th century.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Like banjos marketed under the name of other well-known performers such as the Dobsons, this instrument was likely actually made in the New York factory of the Buckbee company. It is typical of mid-century commercial instruments in having a fretless neck, gut strings and a bentwood rim. The machine tuners and inlaid brass plate are probably later 19th century additions, along with the present arrangement of head-tightening brackets.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Music
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Banjos
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Densmore, Frances. Handbook of the Collection of Musical Instruments in the United States National Museum.
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Estate of Fred P. Mather through Adelaide Mather
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.207888
label: catalog number
content: 207888
label: accession number
content: 37279
objectType: label: Object Name
content: banjo
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: animal skin (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 34 in x 12 1/4 in x 3 1/2 in; 86.36 cm x 31.115 cm x 8.89 cm