Illinois Guaranteed

This banjolele is guaranteed! 

Illinois Guaranteed,
(though as its 100 odd years old I'm not sure if the guarantee is still valid?)

I invited this one partly because it's a fine Banjolele, but mainly because it is one of my biggest Banjolele mysteries? Despite having seen it branded by a number of distributors, and even more often completely unbranded, I'm still not sure who actually made this model? If I had to pick I would say Globe as it has a number of Globe traits, the fretboard finishing after 16 frets, still well short of the drum. the circular hole in the middle of the resonator, (even though in this case the resonator is metal). However I have never seen one branded with any of Globes brands or in any of Globes catalogues. Hopefully I will learn more once it arrives, perhaps even solve the mystery?

It's arrived at Ukulele Corner now and it is very nicely made; definitely different with the metal body, flanged resonator and brackets. I can't say I am particularly taken with the writing on the head though, (however I won't change it just because of the "graffiti"), and the nut is a replacement that is set to high so it needs filing down. I am still not sure who made it though? The fretboard makes me think Globe but the all metal body does make me think of MISCo?