1920s Kumalae Vintage Soprano Style 1 Ukulele Solid Koa Gold Award w/osc

Up for sale, an early 1920's Kumalae Style 1 Ukulele in excellent condition with the original canvas hard case. Jonah Kumalae was a second generation of ukulele maker beginning his craft in 1911. He quickly became one of the most prodigious ukulele makers around – making around 300 a month according to Jim Beloff’s The Ukulele: A Visual History. Kumalae ukuleles were made of Koa wood brought over from the Big Island of Hawaii. In 1915, Kumalae got a big break in his ukulele manufacturing and sales. He applied for, and won, a bid to display his ukuleles at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, where his ukulele design won a Gold Award. This enabled Kumalae to market and sell his ukuleles to companies on the U.S. Mainland and, according to many ukulele historians, was instrumental in ushering in a 'new wave' of ukulele and Hawaiian music popularity.
This particular example has a post-1919 "Gold Award" headstock sticker, and an immaculate pre-1922 soundhole label (which is when the original manufacturing site burned down), making it a late teens or early 1920s model. Featuring all solid koa construction, with a classic peanut shaped body and Spanish neck heel, this uke is warm, resonant, and projects well for its size. 
The neck has a slim C profile that feels akin to a Kamaka, as well as a 1 1/14" nut width. The headstock boasts the aforementioned Hawaiian crest Kumalae label, as well as the original set of friction pegs that still turn well and hold pitch as they should. The fretboard sports it's original bar style frets, which are in very good shape, showing almost no signs of wear.
The body shows deep figuring in the koa on the top and back, with a three ring soundhole rosette, which along with the lack of fret dots, designates this a Style 1. Cosmetically, there is a tiny bit of finish wear beneath the strings just north of the soundhole, but other than that this ukulele is in incredibly clean shape for an instrument that's pushing 100 years old!
The original canvas soft case is included, which is also in great shape, with working handle and latch!