(George) La Foley

I've been bidding in an auction again and I managed to win a 1937 Manual of Seamanship, A Queen Victoria commemorative tile, four commemoration mugs with a vase, a collection of brass and...

All of this junk was lumped into one lot listed as "A Miscellaneous Collection of Items". Why they all got put into one lot I can't imagine? It's not like the commemoration mugs were commemorating the same thing as the commemoration tile; and the manual of seamanship isn't commemorating anything, (and I don't even know what "a collection of brass" is? Scrap? Monkeys? Boiler fittings?) What there was though, and the reason I bid on it, was a George La Foley Soprano in its case. Yes George La Foley, one of the, if not the best British Ukulele manufacturer of the 1920's. Of course mixed in with all the other crap it hadn't been picked up by anyone else online. Someone in the room did run me up a bit and it would be interesting to know, (but I never will), if they were after the La Foley as well or they wanted something else. Whatever they weren't that keen and dropped out after a couple of bids leaving me to invite the La Foley to Ukulele Corner. But hopefully not the other crap, I will try and get the auction house to put that all in as a lot in their next auction so maybe someone who appreciates brass; or commemorative mugs can have it.

The La Foley and case are here and the auction house has agreed to put the rest of the stuff back into the next auction. Who knows. maybe an old seaman will want to relive his boyhood and I'll make money; but I doubt it. As to the Ukulele, well its in reasonable condition, there is no seam splits, no frets missing and one small crack on the top by the bridge that I'll have to see about getting repaired. The strings, well the 3 that were there, were fairly horrible, more like twine(?) so I had them off and in the bin straight away; but they must have been on since the 40's or maybe even '39. There was an old, (empty), Keech brand string packet in the case with a bit on it apologizing for the wartime quality of envelopes, (and I'm loving this little bit of Ukulele ephemera). The case itself is a bit battered, but I have seen worse, and from the 1930 advert for La Foley I've see it looks like it is probably the original one. All in all its a fine Ukulele to come to Ukulele Corner and I look forward to restringing and playing it, (crack permitting).