Knutsen Teardrop Steel Guitar HTD4

A nice, rare teardrop, with some tantalizing new clues that we just cannot resolve!
The owner's grandfather (Ellsworth Minner) apparently wrote some notes on a card that has been in the case since he got it. He got it from a Miss Robinson of Long Beach, California, who told him that she received it as a gift from a Naval Officer in 1915. This happens to be smack in the middle of Knutsen's "Lost Years" from 1914-1916 - when Noe and Most believe he was in L.A., but never proven. 1915 was of course when the San Francisco Pan Pacific International Expo was in full swing, and we all agree that Knutsen must have frequented the Hawaiian expo events.

Another interesting thing is the label - Knutsen's last Seattle label, but with "Seattle, Wash" crossed out (though not the address). No one (myself, Jean Findlay, Darrell Urbien, Tom Noe so far) has been able to decipher what must have been written through the soundhole after the fact. Guesses range from another address, to a tuning, to (most temptingly) a booth number (say, in the PPIE?!). Regardless, we seem to agree that this was almost certainly an instrument built before Chris left Seattle, and (presumably) sold in 1915 - wherever he was.

Knutsen Archives Inventory Number		HTD4
Category		Hollow Neck Hawaiian Guitars
Body Style		"Teardrop-shaped"
Current or last known owner		Bryan Minner
Year (approx)		c.1914
Label		Harp Guitar Factory label, "Seattle, Wash" crossed out
Label Code		SE7
Courses / Strings		6 strings
Frets		inlaid wood
Scale length		25-5/8"
Neck Joint		taper begins at nut
Woods	Top	black
	Back & Sides	mahogany
	Neck	fir
	Fingerboard	dyed ?
	Bridge	mahogany
	Headstock veneer	none
Binding, trim	Top	pearwood? blonde
	Back	none
	Fingerboard	none
	Headstock(s)	none
	Soundhole	multi-colored rope
Inlay		fancy pearl fret markers
Pickguard		none
Dimensions	Upper Bout	na
	Lower Bout	15-1/2"
	Body at endpin	4-1/4", 3-1/16" at nut
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