New York, N.Y.
A. Galiano / Raphael Ciani

Woods, mother-of-pearl, bone, metal
ca. 1890s – 1900
Height: 22.75 in; Width: 7.75 in; Depth: 6 in
Strings – Lutes – Mandolins

Label inside reads: A. Galiano / Raphael Ciani / Fabbricante di Mandolini / e chitarre / garentite

Galiano was a workshop of the ‘Italian Guild’ guitar makers (Cerrito, Ciani, Grosso, Nettuno) in New York City.  Raphael Ciani  is John D’Angelico’s uncle under whom D’Angelico apprenticed. 

This beautiful late 19th- early 20^th– century Neapolitan-style mandolin with an “oval-hole” top shows a mother-of-pearl butterfly inlay on a tortoise shell guard and extensive mother-of-pearl throughout the fretboard. The edges also display decorative wood and bone purling.  The resonator back consists of 23 strips of rosewood.  The word mandolin means ‘small mandola’ (like the violin to the viola) that is a fretted instrument.  This mandolin consists of 8 (four double course) strings tuned in an interval of the perfect fifth, the same tuning as a violin (G3, D4, A4, E5).