New Craigslist Loar

[Markus]

Just saw a local Craigslist ad that is a followup to a previous listing about an old mandolin originally `make an offer' locally.

Whoever told her to get it appraised really makes mandolin players look good.
Thank you, whoever you are.

Given what the money is going to, it's a shame it didn't go for more.

---------------------------

http://madison.craigslist.org/msg/4887367419.html

"Re: this ad
Have a old mandolin with curly head on body, says 1920 something inside.
I think it says Gilson on the top.
Strings are almost rusty.
Make an offer

Thank you to the people who said to have it looked at it! It was a Gibson.
I was given this by my grandmother who had it after my grandfather passed away.
He had bought it just before the war.
I sold it for $75,000 to a very nice man. I can't believe it! I'm still shaking!
Now I can put my mother in a elder caring facility!
Thank goodness for the people being being honest and telling me to have it checked.
I almost sold it to a man for $150. Bless you all!"

[Jeff Mando]

That is a touching story and hate to be a stinker, but $150 sounds like a better price to me! :cow:

[Delaware]

Ok, the Elderly care thing took away my MAS. Good for them.

[G. Fisher]

I'm glad they got the correct info that it was a Loar. But, isn't $75,000 low for a Loar?

[Jonathan James]

wonder if this whole story is legit. If so, glad she didn't get taken advantage of (too badly)...

[Relio]

Sounds like a fake story... I'm guessing the seller is a male that owns a Gibson F9.

[Markus]

I'm guessing the seller is a male that owns a Gibson F9.

Where do you get that from?

[FLATROCK HILL]

wonder if this whole story is legit. If so, glad she didn't get taken advantage of (too badly)...

Yes...I wonder too. I don't see anything to be gained by running a fake story, but it seems a little fishy. I'd like to see if that message could be linked back to the original Craigslist ad.

As far as a fair selling price goes, nowhere in the 'message' does it actually state that it was a Loar. It was a Gibson with a "curly head" and from the '20s. 75k seems like more than fair for a post-Loar F5. (Might have been an F4 and Chumley overpaid again.)

If it is a true story, and assuming it was a Loar that has surfaced, I'm sure the experts here will find out all the details eventually.

[OldSausage]

This story is quite clearly a complete fabrication. If it wasn't perpetrated by someone who frequents this board, I will be very surprised.

[Markus]

If it is a true story, and another Loar has surfaced, I'm sure the experts here will find out all the details eventually.

Exactly the reason why I posted it, so it could get noticed by those in the know.

[rubydubyr]

Well, if true, then good on him/her for getting enough to take care of mom. If not true, then shame, shame, shame. Not to bring up the why would you do that?

[FLATROCK HILL]

Not to bring up the why would you do that?

There are a lot of execs at one of the major television news networks asking that same question.

[rubydubyr]

There are a lot of execs at one of the major television news networks asking that same question.

obviously I shrunk overnite, this just went over my head

[G. Fisher]

.

As far as a fair selling price goes, nowhere in the 'message' does it actually state that it was a Loar. It was a Gibson with a "curly head" and from the '20s. 75k seems like more than fair for a post-Loar F5. (Might have been an F4 and Chumley overpaid again.)



You're correct the Craigslist post does not say it was a Loar. I was going by the heading of the MC post. So, $75,000 for a 20's Fern would be in the ball park for price.

[OldSausage]

Not to bring up the why would you do that?

You would do that to get people to talk about it, and to create threads like this one, and make yourself feel special and clever.

[Markus]

Are you accusing me of planting this story?

Seriously?

[rubydubyr]

I can understand a kid or teen doing that, but the possibility of it being an "adult" is ... well, disturbing.

[OldSausage]

Are you accusing me of planting this story?

Seriously?

No Markus - sorry if I gave that impression. I certainly do not believe it was you who planted it.

[Jeff Mando]

I can understand a kid or teen doing that, but the possibility of it being an "adult" is ... well, disturbing.

Brian Williams may have planted it..........

[rubydubyr]

ok, I'm gonna go take a nap, I don't think I got enough sleep last nite, maybe when I wake up, it will be to read posts that actually make sense to me. Who the H is Brian Williams?

[OldSausage]

ok, I'm gonna go take a nap, I don't think I got enough sleep last nite, maybe when I wake up, it will be to read posts that actually make sense to me. Who the H is Brian Williams?

Boy, Ruby, that is some big rock you live under:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Brian+Williams&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[rubydubyr]

Boy, Ruby, that is some big rock you live under:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Brian+Williams&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Yes, I googled it. I don't watch TV. I get my news online, and not every day. I click what looks interesting to me at the time. After reading the article about Brian Williams, there's no doubt I feel justified in not reading every item in the daily news and taking what I do read with a large grain of salt. They supposed knew and were "concerned" (apparently not enough...) about his exaggerations for better than a year, and did NOTHING until one of the crew on that shot copter posted about the lie on facebook, and it went viral. THEN they decided, oh yeah, maybe we ought to finally do something so NBC doesn't TOTALLY lose credibility and we'll say that we monitored his feeds, and kept all his exaggerations from going live on our network...... No wonder Brian Williams thought he could get away with it.

[terzinator]

A few months back, a guy had a listing on craigslist for an old stereo receiver, and said it was just sitting on top of his recycling bin in the alley, free for the taking. He said it worked fine. It was nearby, so I grabbed it.

Left channel doesn't work. And it wasn't a Loar.

Where do I complain?

I'm so mad at my mother!

[Jeff Mando]

A few months back, a guy had a listing on craigslist for an old stereo receiver, and said it was just sitting on top of his recycling bin in the alley, free for the taking. He said it worked fine. It was nearby, so I grabbed it.

Left channel doesn't work. And it wasn't a Loar.

Where do I complain?

I'm so mad at my mother!

I feel for ya, bro! When I was 14, I thought I was smarter than everybody else. I thought by the time I was 25, I'd have several multi-platinum hit records and be filthy rich.....well, that didn't exactly work out. BUT, 30 years later, I can answer your question--where do I complain? Right here, my friend, right here! That's what we do and we do it all day long...........and sometimes at night, if I can't sleep.

[Jackgaryk]

ok, I'm gonna go take a nap, I don't think I got enough sleep last nite, maybe when I wake up, it will be to read posts that actually make sense to me. Who the H is Brian Williams?

hey ruby....have you gotten the picks yet? and forget brian Williams, you were better off not knowing.

[rubydubyr]

hey ruby....have you gotten the picks yet? and forget brian Williams, you were better off not knowing.

yes, see other thread after I make an update to it.

[Tobin]

Sounds like a fake story...

Yeah, this part is what has me doubting: "Have a old mandolin with curly head on body, says 1920 something inside."

1920s Gibson mandolins do not have dates of manufacture written inside. It may very well be that this story is true, but something's not right about that description.

[Markus]

They dont have dates on the inside of Lloyd Loar mandolins?

When I search, I see dates right above the line where Loar signed. Every one I found in my image search. I have heard of dates associated with Monroe, Thile, Skaggs, etc Loar mandolins.

Google it. There are dates in there.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

The F5s from the period have dates. Oval hole models, on the other hand, just have serial numbers. I believe that is true also for 20s F2s and F4s.

I think the internet has made a lot of us cynical about what's true and what's not. Remeber that singing cop that was all over the news a few weeks ago? I watched it for 3 seconds and told my wife that's gotta be fake. And sure 'nuff, it was. My cynisim meter just went up a few notches.

But having said that, I still love reading stories like these.. so yeah keep 'em coming.

[mrmando]

Markus, did you see the original ad?

[Markus]

I did not see the original ad, but a friend may have.

The next time I get to Spruce Tree Music I will ask them about it, as they are the best known local acoustic shop and chances are good they brought it there to verify what it was. There is another local luthier and acoustic shop, and a good used electric guitar place ... so it might have gone elsewhere.

I certainly will be asking around. That said, I started a new job this week and my Mom is in hospice ... It's going to be a while before I have time to think about tracking that down or running around town asking if anyone saw the 20's F5. My time is better spent with family in the next month.

If Spruce Tree didn't have a Loar F4 from a similar 'under the bed' source who was sent there unknowing what they by a moral mandolin buyer (still waiting to be sold years later), I would be more skeptical. But I know of one true story like this, so believe there could be a second.

[Tobin]

They dont have dates on the inside of Lloyd Loar mandolins?

When I search, I see dates right above the line where Loar signed. Every one I found in my image search. I have heard of dates associated with Monroe, Thile, Skaggs, etc Loar mandolins.

Google it. There are dates in there.

True, sorry, I was operating under the assumption that it wasn't actually a signed Loar F5. Did post-Loar F5s have signatures with dates? The price seems too low for a Loar but too high for a pre-Loar F2 or F4. I think I have seen post-Loar F5s go for this price range, but did they have dated signatures by someone else?

[Jeff Mando]

I love stories like this, even if they might just be stories. True story, my friend was sweeping the parking lot of a donut shop where he worked and found a brown paper sack with $3200 in it. Drug money? Somebody making a bank deposit? Anyway, fell out of somebody's pocket. Things like this happen, but they are rare.....

[sgarrity]

Seems fishy to me. But.....is that a known Loar pic? Photoshop job?

[OldSausage]

I think the pic is the second fishiest thing about it. It is the first hit you get when you do Google Images for Lloyd Loar:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Lloyd+Loar&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=AwrdVO7BF8LCggSU2YD4Aw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1600&bih=751#imgdii=_&imgrc=BvkMm2R4HY5ylM%253A%3B7ZgFhP5kBJgT4M%3Bhttp% 253A%252F%252Fhome.comcast.net%252F~ukecat%252Fman dolin%252Fmandos%252Fmandoman.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F %252Fhome.comcast.net%252F~ukecat%252Fmandolin%252 Floarhead.html%3B260%3B345

Pic is from the Mandolin Museum page:

http://home.comcast.net/~ukecat/mandolin/loarhead.html

[Bob Bass]

Hi Shaun-

the image of the man holding the 1920's F5 that accompanies the CraigsList ad cited by the OP appears to have been copyrighted by an Alan Bond from the SF Bay area on his site called the Mandolin Museum- http://home.comcast.net/~ukecat/mandolin/loarhead.html.

The caption is "unknown man holding a Loar F5". The picture appears in some other places & sites w/out attribution. If it appears in any of Roger Siminoff's articles, I'm pretty sure there would be an accurate reference to it's actual source.

some of the other folks here w/good memories for historical fotos may come up w/some more accurate and complete info.

[allenhopkins]

Well, true or faked, definitely a "Feel-Good" Lloyd Loar F-5 story. Not all of them are so positive:

Local Business Owner Steals Blind Customer's $225,000 Mandolin (http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/local-business-owner-steals-blind-customer-s-mandolin/article_ab25ff0e-0096-11e3-b831-0019bb2963f4.html) (From La Crosse WI).

[Timbofood]

His ears are not Lloyd's, the unidentified man has "loving cup" ears, Lloyd's look more close to his head.

[Dale Ludewig]

If you look at the original text in the ad, it says:

I was given this by my grandmother who had it after my grandfather passed away.
He had bought it just before the war.

If that is accurate, which war? If it's WWI, it's no Loar. For that matter, it couldn't say 1920 something inside either.

[OldSausage]

Well, presumably they mean wwII.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Well,... Didn't Bill buy his after the war or close to the end of it?

[rubydubyr]

well, of course they meant wwII since wwI ended before the roaring 20s began, and they say the label said 1920 something.

[Dale Ludewig]

Yes, probably WWII, after I think about it. I was just thinking, at the time, that my grandfather was born in 1900. I was thinking about how people of that vintage, when they said 'the war', meant WWI, at least around me.

[Jeff Mando]

Another interesting thing is how the "ad" is worded thanking people for being honest. As if getting $75K for something worth $175-225K is really any more "honest" than somebody offering $150??? Of course, I'd rather have the $75K, but $225K would be better...

still think it is somebody's idea of a joke, people with time on their hands. It has a weird twist, the moral play.....

Still the best to get even with somebody is by putting their phone number in an ad with an instrument listed way too cheap.....keeps 'em busier than the galloping trots!!!

[Charles E.]

"I think it say's Gibson on the top"? If you own it you would know. This is fishy.

[Bernie Daniel]

There are a lot of execs at one of the major television news networks asking that same question.

:))

[Tobin]

"I think it say's Gibson on the top"? If you own it you would know. This is fishy.

Yeah, they thought it said "Gilson". They have the internet savvy to post something on Craigslist, but not do to basic research on something they're selling? Yeah right. They knew it was a mandolin too, but couldn't bother to look up Gibson?

Shenanigans for sure.

[Bernie Daniel]

True, sorry, I was operating under the assumption that it wasn't actually a signed Loar F5. Did post-Loar F5s have signatures with dates? The price seems too low for a Loar but too high for a pre-Loar F2 or F4. I think I have seen post-Loar F5s go for this price range, but did they have dated signatures by someone else?

The signed/dated labels started with Loyd Loar and the Master Model 5-series. So a pre-1922 Gibson signed and dated mandolin is probably a fake?

[f5loar]

Yeah to only say 20's something sounds like it's not a signed and dated Loar. The whole thing sounds real fishy to me to. Then it could be one of the 1000's of fake Loars out there. Some have fake labels. And I am to understand the original ad had no photos of said 20's mandolin? Well, right there as Bill Engval would say" There's your sign".