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Thread: What's the most expensive mandolin sold?

  1. #1

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    I went browsing on our favorite auction site, and notice this mando selling: Item # 280136639485

    and got curious... [and amazed] that anyone first of all would spend that amount :-), and then started wondering what the highest price a mando would sell for [not including the historic Gibson collection].

    Sheryl
    Sheryl --- Me

  2. #2
    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    That is but a fraction of what a Loar would bring. Some of them have gone for over $200,000.00. Then there is Bill Monroe's mandolin that sold for several times that because it was Bill's.
    Bill Snyder

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Make it easier on other readers: use a link.

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    [QUOTE] mando selling: Item # 280136639485

    There's selling and there's asking. This is asking. It may turn into selling but it ain't there yet
    Style is the sum total of your limitations

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    [QUOTE= (12 fret @ July 25 2007, 22:25)]
    mando selling: Item # 280136639485

    There's selling and there's asking. This is asking. It may turn into selling but it ain't there yet
    Good point.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  6. #6
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    I wonder what the two surviving Stradavari mandolins are worth.

    http://www.usd.edu/smm....in.html

  7. #7
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Actually, the highest price paid for a mandolin would be what I would pay after buying one without consulting my wife!

  8. #8
    Mike Parks woodwizard's Avatar
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    Took the words right out of my mouth John.
    I Pick, Therefore I Grin! ... "Good Music Any OLD-TIME"

    1922 Gibson F2
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    Registered User jim_n_virginia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (jflynnstl @ July 25 2007, 23:42)
    I wonder what the two surviving Stradavari mandolins are worth.

    http://www.usd.edu/smm....in.html
    If I didn't know they were Strads, just looking at these I would give someone $20 bucks for the pair!

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    I have sold none
    New player.

  11. #11

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    <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/BEAUTIFUL-1926-GIBSON-F-5-FERN-MANDOLIN-STRONG-SOUNDING_W0QQitemZ170133564734QQihZ007QQcat
    egoryZ10179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">Another One</a>This one tops the first: $95.000 asking. I'm in the wrong business.
    Sheryl --- Me

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    Most expensive? ... Mine .... wanna buy it?
    Custom diamond inlays by Cartier, binding fabricated out of 50 years of Bill Monroes', fingernail clippings, Strings by NASA ...
    never goes out of tune.
    Curt

  13. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Possibly this one.



    If not that one, then this one.

    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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    who'd pay 38 grand for something that ugly?
    it's a box with strings. If it's a well made box, It'll play?

  15. #15
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Don't tell mcH about this!
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

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    Registered User Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (mrmando @ July 29 2007, 01:56)
    Don't tell mcH about this!
    There have been several threads on the MOMI sales attempts on ebay (do a search). That mandolin keeps on being listed and relisted.
    Bill Snyder

  17. #17
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Well, he does have a feedback rating of 4 and it is 100% positive. I would say he hasn't sold too many of the instruments he's listed at those prices, at least not on eBay.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  18. #18
    Registered User Gutbucket's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (Celtic-Grass @ July 29 2007, 01:14)
    who'd pay 38 grand for something that ugly?
    At least it came with a strap.
    A couple of mandolins
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    A Loar era Didjeridoo

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    The Bloomingtones earthsave's Avatar
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    Personally, dont like the look of that Monteleone. It looks like modern art of something Picasso might have made in his later years.
    Scot
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    &lt;&lt;who'd pay 38 grand for something that ugly?&gt;&gt;

    I respectfully disagree. I consider Monteleone's work to be
    not only forward looking,and an evolution of mandolin detailing,
    but a pleasure to hold and play. That said, I understand that
    it isn't traditional enough for many, It was like playing a sculpture,
    and I miss the Flyer A model, & GA Delux that I used to own. It
    is like functional art, too bad I had to give them up to keep creating
    my own art......

  21. #21
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    This just in...I have in my possesion an VERY rare signed GIPSON Flloyd Goar mandolin will sell for $20,000(cheap). Don't have to rush to buy I have a whole warehouse full!

  22. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by (mrmando @ July 29 2007, 02:56)
    Don't tell mcH about this!
    I did see that after I posted the original. Gibson Loars are a separate breed to me... they are like Strad violins. There is expensive, then there is expensive....
    Sheryl --- Me

  23. #23
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (mrmando @ July 29 2007, 02:56)
    Don't tell mcH about this!
    That one has been up there for months now at the same price. I suppose it will continue to be there until the going price for Loars reaches that level -- maybe 5 years or so?

    Then again Hank Risan might raise the price at that point.

    I remember years ago seeing vintage guitars and mandolins at the top dealer's lists with what I thought at the time to be outrageously high prices. They would remain on the lists for a year or two, then quietly disappear as the market reached that limit.

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    Registered User f5loar's Avatar
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    According to the new article by Gruhn in Vintage Guitar October issue which by the way shows a beautiful full page color photo of a sidebound July 9th Loar, several Loars have gone for the $225,000 price range. You see a really nice July 9 '23 Loar pop up here at the cafe for surprise, $225,000. No doubt finer Loars then this will change hands privately in the $250,000 range now. The Buy It Now Fern for $95,000 is a top price so far for a Fern but that price has been paid before so why not again. It is a very nice example of the postLoar Fern. Even at $95,000 that is less then half the price of a signed Loar.
    As the price goes up on these primo mandolins the persons able to purchase them will narrow greatly. If you want one there are ways to secure the funds if you are able. If you don't know how to secure those funds you probably can't afford one anyway.

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    Mandolins are only overpriced if no one buys them. But when I do see an overpriced mandolin {and I'm not saying that any of these are} it makes me wonder if they haven't been overpriced on purpose. That way the owner can say "Gee honey - I TRIED to sell it. The mandolin market must not be very good right now. I guess I better keep it for a few more years". But who knows?
    You can't see your future in a rear view mirror.

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