The serial no. is 1352, and according to this web site:
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/dobro.html

it was possibly made in 1928?

Wood body Dobro Serial numbers

Number range Year
900 - 1700 1928
1800 - 2000 1929
3000 - 3900 1930
5000 - 5500 1932-1933
5700 - 7600 1934-1936
8000 - 9900 1937

Although, from this site:
http://www.vintageguitar.com/brands/details.asp?ID=74

which has a history of the Dobro company, some dobros were made by Regal, a Chicago company, for distribution in the eastern US.

Dobro started its serial numbers around 800. Later in the ’30s Regal in Chicago confused things by numbering a run of Dobros across the same range.

An early California instrument can be identified by square slot-ends in the headstock, coverplate screws in the points of numbers on a clock, and the lack of a dot at the 17th fret. The dot at the 17th fret was added in late 1930. By 1933 Dobro moved the screws to the half-hour points so a repairman could open a guitar without removing the tailpiece.

My dobro has rounded slot ends in the headstock, the moved coverplate screws and a dot at the 17th fret. So, I am still not sure if this was made in California or Chicago and what year.

Any vintage Dobro experts out there? Or any way to verify this information?

thanks

Mike

[This message was edited by Mike Selecky on 28 December 2002 at 04:31 PM.]