Loars at Mandolin Central

[Charles E.]

It looks like Tony is swimming in Loar's!

http://www.mandolincentral.com/instlist.html

[sgarrity]

Wow!!!

[Mandoist]

Prices would be nice.....

[Glassweb]

don't get too excited sports fans...

[Gary Hedrick]

Why are you selling your collection?????

[Glassweb]

brother, no collection do i have! just one mandolin and my new Kimble mandola (which is incredibly fine!). although i am persuing a roundhole mandolin as we speak!

[G. Fisher]

Prices would be nice.....

I'd guess about $200,000 each +/- about $50,000.

I'd also guess they're not all in one location ether. ;)

[Russ Jordan]

I'd guess about $200,000 each +/- about $50,000.

I'd also guess they're not all in one location ether. ;)

Though Tony does say "For pricing and to arrange showroom appointment to see and play these fine mandolins......"

[Gary Hedrick]

Steven, you may not have a collection as such but you sure have owned a bunch of really, really great mandolins that I'm aware of.

[jjboone101]

Has any one seller/shop ever had 4 Loars for sale at the same time? Wow. Suspect Tony will have one or more in tow with him at Merlefest this weekend.

[Glassweb]

You're right Gary... I've had some really nice mandolins and mandolas over the years... but it's funny though how it's all brought me to these two instruments... what a long strange trip it's been! Some that I regret letting go of? The A4 snake that I bought from Eldon Stutzman in 1976. The L&H symmetrical style A that I got from Frank (Miliano) the Barber in 1975 (along with a haircut!). That mint, truss-rodded black-top H1 with the hand-painted blue flowers that I got from The Mando Bros. when they were still on Bay St. Let's see... The perfect brown H2 mandola with Handel tuners that I bought from a kid in a music store on Seymour St. up in Vancouver BC. The Gil H5 that I bought from Dexter Johnson. The black-top, one piece back F4 that Stan Jay sold me a few years ago. The amazing 1923 F4 that Larry Wexer sold me several years back. Oh yes, my first Loar F5... a Feb. 18th with a Virzi that was truly MINT and was hands down one of the 5 best Loars I've ever played. Ah... the memories! Ladies and mandolins... what a life it has been...

[Glassweb]

Has any one seller/shop ever had 4 Loars for sale at the same time? Wow. Suspect Tony will have one or more in tow with him at Merlefest this weekend.

Other than Tony himself I can't recall anyone else having so many Loars for sale at one time. In fact, I think all Loarists would agree that there have never been so many nice Loars for sale as there are now... amazing... and SCARY! I'm familiar with most of these that Tony has for sale. $200K for any of them (except for the June sidebound) is nothing but a pipe dream at this point. The market just ain't there...

[Gary Hedrick]

Yeah, If I could hit the lottery I'd make folks some 150k offers and see what would happen.

[John Soper]

I'd prolly make some $150K offers & if any were accepted, wait for the divorce papers to be served...

[re simmers]

$150K........$200K? What's $50K among friends.........especially Loar lovers?

Bob

[Capt. E]

Ahhhh, what I could have done with the 5K I inherited in 1970...too late now.

[Gary Hedrick]

Ah yes, $1500 would have gotten you a Loar then....

[Links]

I am pretty sure I have seen the Bennie Cain Loar for sale before - probably from Tony at one time. Also wonder if two of them may not be Hershel Sizemore's Loars, as they have been for sale from time to time. Someone here (i.e. Darryl) will probably know who these mandolins belong to. I hate to be skeptical, but if these are not priced very reasonable, they will suffer the same fate as the other eight or ten that have been for sale the past couple of years. Tom I. says some have been sold in private in the past year, but since they were private sales, there is no way to get a grip on a current sales price.

[grassrootphilosopher]

I am pretty sure I have seen the Bennie Cain Loar for sale before - probably from Tony at one time.

It was on mandolincentral (Tony Williamson), maybe in 2008.

[bluesmandolinman]

Ladies and mandolins... what a life it has been...

So what did you enjoyed more ?
(The ladies had some real competition according your list)
;)

[Glassweb]

So what did you enjoy more ?
(The ladies had some real competition according to your list)
;)

alas, no easy answer on that one...

[f5loar]

I believe the legendary vintage seller Harry West has had in the past more then 4 Loars for sale at one time. If you count up all the Loars for sale at the moment it is still less then 10% of the total production.

[Links]

Maybe this will help!

"And thus, dear students, we have arrived at the formula for understanding women."
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/linksmkr/WomanFormula.jpg

[f5loar]

Tony did have 2 of the Loars at MerleFest. I played on the Feb. '23 and it's a killer sounding Loar. Great fast action and great bottom end and cutting edge tone and all this with a Virzi. He played the Feb '24 at the mandomania jam and it was really cutting through the trees in the background. Wayne Henderson was out at the picker's tent with his prewar D45. And Tut Taylor was lurking around with the spirit of the '23 A5. So I guess today I got to see about a million dollar's worth of instruments.

[Fretbear]

Speaking of the spirit of the lone Loar A-5, I just finished reading the latest issue of Fretboard Journal, wherein Ricky Skaggs is described as buying a "1924 Loar A-5" from a guy and having it refinished by John Paganoni when he couldn't afford the asking price for another Loar that WSM was offering him for sale. Because it is described as having a thin, almost fiddle-like neck and that he uses it for "The New South" album in 1974, I assume this is a typo and that they are actually referring to his old F-5 Loar that had the trussrod showing through the back of the neck.
You would think they could get facts like these straight before they go to print.