Whoever bids on this banjo should ask the seller questions like: Can block lettering be considered a signature? How can that be verified? Why did Max Kortlander misspell his own name? For those names written in cursive, why do signatures like those of Zez Confrey, Pete Wendling, Carl Fenton (Walter Haenschen), and Fritz Kreisler look thoroughly -unlike- their signatures on contemporary sources that can be verified? (Draft Registrations, Naturalization Petitions, etc.)
I'm not suggesting that anyone is willfully trying to misrepresent this artifact, but it could merely be a really old instrument with some names written on it a long time ago by just about anyone.
The seller provided no info on the supposed original owner, "C.H. Gillette," so here is a bit of history. There is a Charles Howard Gillette, Jr., born in New Jersey about 1902, residing at 27 Lexington Rd., West Hartford, as late as 1928 (city directories). He was not a musician by profession; he worked for Aetna Insurance in Hartford, and later after moving to New York state worked for an ad agency. He and wife Franceina had two children, both daughters (see obit below). I reached one of their grandchildren by phone, who knew nothing about a banjo.
Hartford Courant, The (CT) - February 26, 1995
Deceased Name: GILLETTE. FRANCEINA COMSTOCK (HARRIS) GILLETTE
GILLETTE. Franceina Comstock (Harris) Gillette, 90, of Hartford, died Feb. 18, 1995, in Sebastopol, Calif. She was preceded in death by Charles Howard Gillette Jr.; and her parents, Walter St. George Harris, and Ellen (Brainard) Harris, all formerly of Hartford. Walter Harris was formerly Advertising Manager at the Hartford Courant. She is survived by two daughters, Patricia Harris Gillette, and Janice (Gillette) McInerney [died 2003], both of Sebastopol, Calif.; two grandchildren, Edward J. McInerney of San Jose, Calif., and Kathleen (McInerney) Cox of Santa Rosa, Calif.; and four great- grandchildren, Kimberly, Rebecca, Walter, and Jonathan. Interment will be at the Harris Family Plot, Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London. She was a talented artist, and will be remembered especially for her pastels of children.