Banjo for sale - Vintage 1890's Pollman Profesional Banjo

This is an extremely rare 1800's pony banjo in very good (playable) condition. The Pollmann Company existed from 1848 until 1924. They were most famous for their Mandoline Banjo which was a flatback mandolin body with a 5-string banjo neck. It was a very popular parlor instrument in it's day. This is a "pony banjo" with a 10" calfskin head (original as far as I can tell) and an overall length of 33". It originally came with a leather scabbard style case (opened from the end) that had a large loop that allowed it to be hung from the saddle pommel of a walking horse. The previous owners threw the case away because it was moldy and they didn't know how to clean it (kinda makes me want to cry). They also attempted to re-string it with a set of modern banjo strings and tune it as if it were a Bluegrass instrument. They pulled the original Iveroid (early acetate plastic) tailpiece apart. This instrument was made when steel strings for banjo did not exist and was originally strung with gut strings (my cats don't seem to like it when I play this thing). I added a StewMac "no knot" and some nylgut strings so I could play it. These instruments were tuned to "C" or "D" with the same intervals as the Bluegrass "G" tuning. The tuners are original black bean style friction type and actually work quite well. The bridge is modern. Note that the top lug nearest the neck has been removed to facilitate clawhammer style playing. That's how it came. The frets and ebony fingerboard are in fantastic condition for an instrument of this age but as in all older instruments there has been some shrinkage in the wood in the neck that has caused the frets to protrude. There are also a couple of frets that could stand re-glueing. This ships in a standard chipboard tenor banjo case but a lite case style old time banjo case is available for an additional $55. Thanks for looking.