1918 Trap-Door Gibson Banjo-Mando (With a Catch ...)

[Petrus]

A nice Gibson MB-4 Trap Door Mandolin Banjo from 1918. The catch is the guy is selling his whole collection of seven Gibson trap door banjos, and you can only buy all seven together for $25,000.





Vintage Gibson Trap Door Collection Banjo Guitar Mandolin Tenor Cello Original
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111469230796

[barney 59]

$20,000 when I looked. The catch is, they might be worth $20k to a lazy collector or at least in the mind of the seller as a collection but sold individually they are not. A mandolin much like that recently sold on ebay for about $1300. I remember it because I thought $1300 was more like a dealer price than an ebay price and was surprised when it went that high. I don't follow banjos with less than 8 strings so I'm not sure of their value,but I think the date of that mandolin sounds too early by maybe 5 years. "Boomer retiring" going to see a lot of that. Get ready for the flood!

[Timbofood]

I saw that, what an easy way to become a "collector"! Interesting bunch of banjos.

[barney 59]

Having money was always an easy way! Kind of takes the happiness of pursuit out of the equation which is always a problem for people with capital. For the rest of us we are at least guaranteed that in the Constitution.

[Jim Garber]

I think this has been recycled on eBay a few times. Collector mentality is that the collection is worth more than the sum of its parts and that we pay the premium (he thinks) for all the work that was done to assemble such a set. The reality is that unless the person has exactly the same passion as the seller, it is unlikely that they would even want all these at one price. So, it goes.