Ornately decorated five-string banjo with base of octagonal form surrounding the circular tension hoop, the eight panels with inlay leaf and geometric form decorations and the rear and peg neck head decorated with compass form inlay, the neck with inlay fret markers and interleaved inlay diamond forms, and the skin head decorated with a drawing depicting two banjo players with another companion, seated on a carpet in a landscape, with trees, mountains and a turreted building in the distance, signed "L.B. Hinkle." Wood pegs, wood and metal tailpiece and fittings, bone bridge. With various cracks, some repaired, tear and losses to the upper right of the illustrated head, untested for playing condition, sold as a historic decorative object. 32 x 8.25 inches. Provenance: from the Collection of noted banjo collector and historian Jim Bollman, author (with Philip Gura) of the illustrated history  America's Instrument: The Banjo in the 19th Century.