Martin & Coupa Guitar: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This guitar was made by Martin & Coupa of New York, New York around 1839-1841. Christian Freidrich Martin’s guitar manufacturing company made guitars in Nazareth, Pennsylvania and sold many of them through his shops in New York. Martin had a number of associations and sold guitars with labels such as “Martin and Schatz,” “Martin and Bruno,” and “Martin and Coupa.” This guitar bears the printed label: “MARTIN & COUPA [/] Guitar manufacturers [/] 385 Broadway [/] up Stairs [/] have always on hand the largest assortment of Guitars [/] that can be found in the United States.” John Coupa was a prominent guitar instructor and was contracted with C.F. Martin to sell guitars under the label “Martin and Coupa.” This is a six course (6x1) guitar with a spruce top, bird's-eye maple veneered mahogany back and sides, and a machine head.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1839-1841
• maker: Martin & Coupa
• Object Name: guitar
• Measurements: overall: 36 in x 11 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in; 91.44 cm x 29.21 cm x 8.89 cm
• place made: United States: Pennsylvania, Nazareth
• sold: United States: New York, New York City
• ID Number: MI.378846
• accession number: 145343
• catalog number: 378846
• Credit Line: Gift of Stephen Waterman
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.