From what I have found, the banjo mandolins started to appear around 1910 and were in full flower by 1920. If there is evidence (catalogs, price lists, patent applications) that GH&S was making these prior to that, I would be very interested to see it. The earliest banjo/mandolin hybrid with an 8 string neck that I have heard of is one "mandolin banjo" made by S. S. Stewart starting around 1900. It has the 8string mandolin neck and a small 7 inch rim. I count myself as lucky to own one. This is not to be confused with another "mandolin banjo" first offered by Stewart in 1884. It had a half-scale five string neck on the same 7 inch rim and by 1890 was renamed a "Little Wonder" piccolo banjo. My musical cohort, Mark Gardner has one of these. The two make for a fun combination onstage.

Rex