Stelling Banjo Picks

I got to see something I never knew existed this past week at our Tuesday night jam session. Stan and his wife, Abby, came for our jam session. After the session was over, we got to talking and Stan showed me a set of Stelling banjo picks he bought many years ago. They were handmade for Stelling Banjo Company by a Canadian jeweler named Ellington. The picks are sterling silver and have several really neat features built into them. For one, the inside of the picks are rough so that your fingers won't slip out of them. Next, instead of just round holes in the picks, there are designs in the holes. There is a tiny musical note in the blade part of the picks, and there are other designs cut in the bands of the picks. Each pick has an engraved "S" on it. The picks were sold in sets, with one pick having a small, additional hole below the engraved "S" so that you knew which pick went on which finger. The old National fingerpicks are nickel silver, as are every other silver fingerpick that I know of. These are the only picks I know of that are made from Sterling silver. Any way, I called over to Stelling banjo company and Sherry (Geoff's wife) told me that the picks had not been made in years due to Ellington being very ill. Stelling doesn't have any more of the picks and they are hard to come by. (Yeah - especially since people don't know they exist!) It looks like Ellington is better now and may begin to make more picks for Stelling. If you want a pair, you'd better get them quick!

Here are some pictures for you. The first is of Stan and Abby. The rest are the Stelling banjo picks. The colors on the picks are reflections from our neon sign.