Collecting (1900 Martin 0-28)

Collecting is all about serendipity, about which Jim Bollman knows a thing or two.  I was introduced to Jim by a mutual friend after a game of tennis.  Turns out this fellow tennisman co-owned the Music Emporium for thirty years, starting when it first opened locally in Cambridge, MA in 1974.  He is nationally recognized among instrument collectors for his seminal book "America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century."  He has been collecting vintage banjos for four decades and owns the pre-eminent collection of vintage banjos in the world, which adorns nearly every room of his Boston-area home.

Upon learning of my interest in vintage guitars, Jim generously offered me the chance to view his collection of vintage instruments that includes a couple turn of the (nineteenth) century guitars. That is how this week I learned that in the late nineteenth century the banjo was America's most popular instrument, spanning entertainment from ribald minstrel shows and classical banjo orchestras in dance halls to every high society sitting room.  By 1890, Boston was the premier center of Banjo manufacturing.  A.C. Fairbanks & Co., William A. Cole, and Bay State were all Boston rivals manufacturing beautiful hand-crafted banjos, mandolins, and guitars.  It was the Cole company, though, that had the good fortune of enlisting the talents of master engraver Icilio Consalvi from Italy.  By 1891, Consalvi was adding his signature exquisitely-carved pearl inlays to Cole instruments, and single-handedly elevated the decorative artistry of American instruments in his day.  The high-end presentation models from this era are considered some of the finest vintage instruments ever made.  Consalvi's personal banjo, known as the "King" banjo for its over-the-top inlay work totaling nearly 40,000 individual pieces according to Consalvi, was recently donated to the instrument collection of the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston by his family.

Speaking of family, Jim befriended Consalvi's granddaughter after she started selling off some of Consalvi's stuff.  He was able to acquire numerous of the master craftsman's items including his tool chest full of the artist's tools and instrument parts.  In the process Jim was even gifted Consalvi's wife's turn of the century Martin 0-28!  While that guitar does need restoration, Jim also acquired the late 1890s unsigned 0-size parlor guitar with typical Consalvi inlays seen here.  It has a chunky v-shaped neck (this was before truss rods) and sturdy bracing, making it heavier than one would expect for such a small instrument.  It also sports gut strings, which hold less tension than the modern steel strings that were not widely known or used before the 1920's.  It is a work of art that rivals the finish work on any modern high-end guitars.

And that is how I went from a passing conversation on the tennis courts to a private showing of the world's finest vintage banjo collection just a few miles down the road.  What a great Christmas visit!  May you also experience musical blessings during the holidays.