This is a fully restored 1920s-30s Supertone flat back mandolin. Supertone was house brand for Sears and Roebuck and were made by multiple companies including Kay and Harmony among others. This mandolin seems reminiscent of the inlay pattern on older Stromberg-Voisinet instruments (predecessor of Kay) I have seen, or possibly an early Kay. It has beautiful Brazilian rosewood back, sides and head plate, spruce top, and a bound, dyed fruitwood fingerboard. It has the original tuners, frets, bridge, tailpiece and case. 
 
WORK DONE: This mandolin was in decent shape when I got it, with all the original parts working well, and no cracks or splits in the body. There was a chunk of wood about 1/2 " across missing from the top around the sound hole (pic 2), several pieces of inlay were missing and the finish was badly alligatored. There was also one loose brace on the back and the tuners were loose (they had never been screwed in). I inlaid in a new piece of spruce into the top, inlaid a matched section of pickguard material, then re-created the missing binding and missing pearl inlay. I re-glued the loose back brace, cleaned and re-set the tuners this time screwing them into place, and after all the major repairs were dealt with, I removed the alligatored finish with a light sanding, then gave the finish a light coat of french polish to seal and polish it.
 
This mandolin has an unusual feature, one usually found on nicer mandolins and some Larsons (No, this is NOT a Larson); the beautiful rosewood back extends over the neck joint. Fortunately I did NOT need to re-set the neck (which would have meant removing the back). I did a level, crown and polish on the frets, and re-glued loose binding on the neck. 
 
When I set this mandolin up, I used John Pearse light gauge phosphor bronze mandolin strings and re-used the original bridge. The action was right on the money. It's low and smooth as butter, easy to play with no buzzes anywhere up the neck. The tone is full and rich, very woody, and quite loud. It plays single note runs with clarity and brilliance and adds a full warm but clear tone on rhythm parts. This would be an excellent mandolin for old time sting band music. It comes with it's original cardboard case in very good condition.
 
This mandolin is a fine vintage player of excellent tone woods. I'm asking $525.00, a very good price for a vintage Brazilian rosewood mandolin, particularly one that plays this well!