Imported German Harmonicas Found
Ready American Market

The harmonica was invented in Germany in the 1820s and first appeared in the United States in the 1840s. Tens of thousands were imported to this country and their small size and modest price made this a musical instrument accessible to nearly everyone. They were sold in city shops, by itinerant peddlers, and everywhere in between.

Many brands appeared between 1850 and 1900, as the German manufacturers began producing harmonicas on an assembly-line basis. Probably the best known in this country was the Hohner, as Matthias Hohner, a leading exporter, carried out an extensive American advertising campaign.

During the 1920s, harmonica bands appeared across the United States. John Philip Sousa, who had invented a “Marine Band” harmonica in 1896, wrote a march called “Harmonica Wizard” in 1930. It was played by 200 harmonicas!

The popularity of harmonicas peaked during the Depression of the 1930s. At one time, it was estimated that 25 million Americans could play the harmonica.

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Mold Mark Is One Key To Frankart

Frankart was a company operating from about 1920 to 1931 that mass-produced decorative accessories for the home. Its output included figural ashtrays, vases, lamps and bookends. These pieces featured animals, birds and nudes. Favorites with consumers then, and collectors of Art Deco now, are the lamps which have gaudy glass globes supported by nudes.

A whitish zinc alloy called spelter was used for the base metal in Frankart items. Pieces were then finished with green, black, gray or a bronze-colored paint. Almost all carry the mold mark, “Frankart, Inc.” Good Frankart pieces have become fairly expensive. All examples in the most recent Schroeder’s Price Guide are valued at several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Reproductions have been made from the original molds. These replicas are not signed, so collectors should be careful to check for an original mold mark.

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Can You Believe?
Jewelry Out Of Battery Casings!

Santo Domingo Pueblo is located about 25 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico. The members of this pueblo have been excellent makers of jewelry for many decades, especially incorporating turquoise into their work.

Materials were hard to come by in the 1930s, when the turquoise mines were taken over by large mining companies and the Depression years were affecting everyone in the United States. At that time, the Santo Domingo jewelers adapted to the times by producing what collectors now call Depression necklaces. Actually, these were made from the 1930s into the 1960s.

The Depression necklaces, usually some form of a thunderbird, fit well into today’s mission to recycle as much as possible because these were made primarily of recycled materials.

Entire families were involved in the making of these thunderbird necklaces. The children were sent to the local dump to bring home materials that might work. Hard rubber from discarded battery casings or old 78 rpm records were frequent backings for the mosaic designs that were made. These were heated on the family stove, to be softened. Then, using a template and a coping saw, they were cut into the bird shape.
The mosaic designs were made of chips found from larger pieces of turquoise and colorful pieces of discarded Bakelite, celluloid or, later, plastics, found from thrown-away items such as combs, handles of kitchen gadgets, Dairy Queen spoons, colanders, plastic dinnerware – anything colorful. These were attached to the cut-out black background with Duco cement.

The beads completing the rest of the necklaces were made of gypsum, a native material that the Santo Domingos had been drilling with holes for many years. In fact, they were so well known for their beads that they often traded the beads to other jewelry making tribes in the Southwest.

The thunderbird is a symbol of native culture in the curio trade. Members of the Santo Domingo Pueblo would travel for hundreds of miles throughout the Southwest, selling their necklaces, for about one or two dollars, at tourist locations, Indian pow wows, and along the roadside.

An interesting adaptation was made in the thunderbird necklaces during World War II, however, when the design was changed to an American eagle. These were sold primarily to American soldiers traveling through the Southwest on troop trains.

Today, these necklaces made out of battery casings and broken plastic combs are hard to find and those in fine condition might sell for a thousand dollars or more.

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