Teed Six-String Banjo: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This banjo was made by George Teed of New York, New York around 1862. It is a Six-String Banjo, with 17 frets, 8 brackets with a brass hoop, and resonator made from rosewood veneer with inlaid design. The brass hoop is etched:

This banjo features U. S. Patent #34913 dated April 8, 1862, by George Teed for an improvement in banjos.

Teed is listed in the New York City directory from 1860-1861 as a turner with a home address of 497 E. Houston. Like many craftsmen in the woodworking trades, Teed may have made banjos as a secondary business.

This early commercial banjo has top-tensioning screws to adjust the tightness of the head and a closed back resonator body designed to project the sound outwards towards the audience. Like similar mid-century banjos patented by Henry Dobson, it may have been actually made by the Buckbee company of New York.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1862
• maker: Teed, George
• Object Name: banjo
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: animal skin (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 35 1/4 in x 11 3/4 in x 2 1/2 in; 89.535 cm x 29.845 cm x 6.35 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• ID Number: MI.68.06
• catalog number: 68.06
• accession number: 275703
• Credit Line: GIft of Roger D. Abrahams
• 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.