Croatia
Maker Unknown

Wood, mother-of-pearl, metal strings, metal
Early 20th century
Height: 22 in; Width: 5.5 in; Depth:1.75 in
Strings – Lutes – Miscellaneous Lutes

A Croatian guitar-shaped ‘Prim’ or ‘Bisernica,’ the smallest of the five tamburicas (tamburitza) that plays the melody and harmony in the highest octaves in the Tamburitza string orchestra.  It has four metal strings and the frets are made in the ‘Farkas system’ with five full frets and two rows of half frets – (The right side a diatonic row and on the left all the frets in between, so together, form a chromatic range.)  There is a triangular bone or ivory inlay at the base by the tailpiece. The body and neck are made from a medium-colored wood (possibly pine) with a darker brown wood on the top third of the body and fretboard. The sound hole is very small and both it and the bottom 2/3 of the body are trimmed with a floral strip imitating purfling. There is a thin bridge made of unstained wood, with four small mother-of-pearl circles inlaid on the fretboard.

Originally, the tamburicas were made in a tear-drop shape.  The tuning head, that curls sideway to the right, has four bone or ivory tuning pegs and is flat with a metal cover plate on the front.

In the Balkan (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia) these all string tamburitza orchestras are very popular.  Emigrants in the USA still play this type of music and when possible, on these instruments. 

Reference: http://www.detroittamburitzaorchestra.com/index.php/what-is-a-tamburitza;  https://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/europe2.htm