... of New York City, was said to have the largest musical instrument making factory in the world in 1860 and until about 1896/7 the concern made banjos for many others, including

Dobson, Converse, Bruno, Foote, Farland, Mather, Wallis , Stratton etc.

 

At the peak of the banjo boom the factory was said to have made ten thousand banjos each year.

 

No one appears to have seen a banjo with the name Buckbee on it so it would appear the firm

never marketed its own instruments under its own name except with the initial JHB on the side of the heel.

 

The plant - at least, the banjo-making part of it - was taken over by Rettberg & Lange in 1897.