It's baaaaaack!

[Links]

Here it is again #- #price dropped to 400K. #I've offered to trade a $200,000 signed photo of Harry Truman and a $200,000 autograph of Strom Thurmond #- # both better known than Sheridan Downey!


<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/SHERIDAN-DOWNEYS-1936-A-00-GIBSON-MANDOLIN-S-423B_W0QQitemZ330259794746QQcmdZViewItem?hash

=item330259794746&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A3&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.com/SHERIDA....4.l1318</a>

[John Hill]

Free shipping though...

[jefflester]

The previous thread (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=29;t=55365) for reference. If anybody reading is unfamiliar with the previous discussion, I suggest reading that one first.

[JEStanek]

This is funnier the second time around.

Jamie

[laddy jota]

Sheridan Downey was the only U.S senator to have a Gibson mandolin finish named after him. The reserve price suggests that he may have been on the USS Titanic when it went down. If the reserve price continues to go down $100K with each listing, we are just 4 auctions away from an actual sale. I might even bid if we get down into triple digits left of decimal. It looks like a steal for $900.

[jefflester]

Sheridan Downey was the only U.S senator to have a Gibson mandolin finish named after him. The reserve price suggests that he may have been on the USS Titanic when it went down.
Make that the RMS Titanic

The unsinkable Sheridan Browney #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Mike Bunting]

I see that he had a piezo pickup on it way back then! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

[Links]

He's only losing two hundred and something thousand on this rock bottom sale!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Eric F.]

I think I'll bid. The $25 back with the eBay MasterCard coupled with the $2,000 in buyer protection from PayPal make it too, too tempting to pass up.

[Zigeuner]

Take a look at the picture of the top. Is that some sort of pickup wire going from the rear of the bridge, over the top and then disappearing into the bass side F hole?

This could be an important forensic fact. Could it mean that the good senator was hard of hearing or even deaf and in need of some amplification? If this is true and the pickup is there and is original, it must be one of the earliest examples of electrification of a mandolin anywhere.

The plot, and the provenance, thickens. One can almost hear the good senator sitting in his tent on safari somewhere trying to tune the thing with all of that feedback from his early mono amp. while one of his native helpers cranks a small generator. A little over, a little under but never quite right and in tune. Oh the humanity!

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Greg H.]

Naw, if you read the fine print the pickup (and the grover tuners and a new bridge) were added by a subsequent owner who purchased the mandolin from the senator's estate for a modest $649,000.

[F5GRun]

As for the pick-up. He never Claims its original, he only says its a new martin thinline...and Its HOT!!!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif And I just cant imagine this HOT of a pick up in the middle of a safari, with no A/C!!! just unreal.

It also looks like the mandolin has made the trip halfway around the world since the last auction...its in Cali now! ??

[Zigeuner]

Naw, if you read the fine print the pickup (and the grover tuners and a new bridge) were added by a subsequent owner who purchased the mandolin from the senator's estate for a modest $649,000.
Oh, I missed that. Well, that's ineresting. So much for provenance. If it's not original I don't want it anymore. You'd think that they would have had enough brains to leave it exactly the way it was when allegedly played by the senator.

[Eddie Sheehy]

There's a slight scratch in the finish and you can see a glint of yellow metal underneath.....it's made of SOLID GOLD.....

[markishandsome]

Q: Sir, Who appraised this instrument for you? I have Hubert Humphrey's piccolo and I would like to have it appraised.
A: We have some nice real estate on Saturn's moon for sale too. Someone should buy it(like Obama), and he could play it before the Senate. He might impress some people. Might even help him get elected. A much better idea than spending millions on worthless advertising.


Someone should buy the mandolin so the seller can buy a sense of humor. Or a brain...

[JHo]

Naw, if you read the fine print the pickup (and the grover tuners and a new bridge) were added by a subsequent owner who purchased the mandolin from the senator's estate for a modest $649,000.
I'd (possibly) believe that he bought it at that estate sale for $649.00, but $649,000.00, yeah sure. This guy is crazier than...I don't even know what. It is even funnier the second time around.

[Timbofood]

It IS funnier the more it comes around!

[Jim MacDaniel]

The same seller recently sold an Alvarez acoustic guitar (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330255061743). It sold for only $113.50, which is a pretty good deal for a guitar that "will rival the best acoustic / electric guitars out there", so I'm guessing it must have been owned by a congressional page at best.

[SGraham]

QUOTE
"Sheridan Downey made the cover of TIME magazine in 1938, being the laymen for the "Ham and Eggs" campaign, which later became the nations Social Security."

From the lister's description here, it seems that the good senator must have been very large, at least the size of two ordinary men, since he was a laymen. That could account for his popularity; his vote counted for two.

Now, I want to know why those Democrats in 1938 would put such a valuable colleague to work making a magazine cover...

Also, how does a campaign, no matter how appetizing its title, become a pair of nations both sporting the same name? Maybe the exchange rate in the twin nations of Social Security is 1,000-to-one...

Steve

[Eddie Sheehy]

It's one way of making a "secret" campaign contribution....it might even catch on. Hubert Humphries pecadillos must be worth millions.....

[Links]

Quote : "Naw, if you read the fine print the pickup (and the grover tuners and a new bridge) were added by a subsequent owner who purchased the mandolin from the senator's estate for a modest $649,000."

I've gotten carried away bidding at auctions before, but I usually try to curb my enthusiasm at twice the value of the item #- #in this case $1500. #Talk about buyer's remorse! #How do you tell the wife?

[laddy jota]

Eric Stroeve is apparently married to Sheridan Downey's daughter of Grass Valley, California. Sheridan Downey's widow has passed away so presumably, his daughter would have inherited the senator's little "pride and joy". There would be no need to buy it. The mandolin is located in Grass Valley now while Eric must be in the Netherlands. Notice that he took his "Eagles and Angels" (There will never be another song like Eagles and Angels) license plate cover and a few copies of the Flying Dutchman CD with him to the Netherlands because those auction items are to ship from there. Perhaps the idea for the mandolin auction came up in an Amsterdam coffee shop with a few well-deserved giggles. Of course, we all have gotten a few laughs out of it too.

[man dough nollij]

Yeah, we know what goes on in Amsterdam "coffee shops". That explains a lot! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Links]

Quote: "Eric Stroeve is apparently married to Sheridan Downey's daughter of Grass Valley, California."

That probably explains the $649,000 sales price at the "estate" auction. I'm trying to figure out the tax/inheritance ramifications regarding a sale of that magnitude, but I can't sort it out. Maybe each family member was given several million in "monopoly money" and bid on the things that they wanted from the estate. I have heard of that being done!

[MikeEdgerton]

"...the pick guard was missing(did Sheridan prefer to play that way?)"

This begs the bigger question. Does anyone care how Sheridan preferred to play? There is abundant mystery and intrigue here at least in the mind of the seller.

[gregjones]

The last time 'round this was discussed, mrmando said he wanted the folks that handled the estate where this thing sold for $649K to handle his estate sale when the time comes.

I think I would like them to handle my father's estate sale when the time comes.

[Jim MacDaniel]

I love this question someone sent him the first time it was listed, although it appears the seller didn't get the tulip reference:


Q: #Given the current "zei[t]geist", nothing surprises me any more. A mediocre instrument, owned by an obscure legislator, for sale at an excessive price. Kind of like the tulip bulb frenzy. Curt Jul-21-08

Even though the Dutch invented the stock market crash back in the early 17th century with the above mentioned Tulip Bulb Frenzy, that was long before they invented the Cannibis bar, in which no doubt they speculated on the value of this item.

[Jim Broyles]

Someone? Don't you recognize the prose of our formerly own mythicfish?

[Jim MacDaniel]

Now I see it, and I'm glad it came from one of us -- classic! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jim MacDaniel]

This just in: given that noone has yet bid on this, and the second auction is almost over, I sent a note to the seller indicating my dismay, which he posted in the auction with his reply...


Q: Wow, a starting price of only $400K, but no bids with only one day to go! (Don't give up hope though -- maybe all of the potential bidders are planning to snipe it at the last moment ;) Aug-11-08

A: We were reading the Guiness book of world records the other day. In it they have the most valuable guitar, violin, chello, ever sold. One guitar(a fender strat signed by various rock stars) sold for a whopping $ 2.7 million dollars. Now a mandolin, owned by one of the most influential senators in the last 100 years, who would have become President if not for his ill health, is worth at least 1 million dollars. This is the eBay deal of the decade. Going once ... Going twice ... and ...

[MikeEdgerton]

I plan on sniping it.

[Links]

Quote: "This begs the bigger question. Does anyone care how Sheridan preferred to play? There is abundant mystery and intrigue here at least in the mind of the seller."

Mike - that is really some serious stuff. Hardly a day goes by that I don't ask myself "how would Sheridan Downey have played that". http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[man dough nollij]

Senator Downey was once asked his position on the Monroe Doctrine. Senator Downey replied "Well, that ain't no part of nothin'!" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[mrmando]

The last time 'round this was discussed, mrmando said he wanted the folks that handled the estate where this thing sold for $649K to handle his estate sale when the time comes.

I think I would like them to handle my father's estate sale when the time comes.
Yes, well, in my father's case it's too late. He didn't leave much of an estate. I got his electric shaver, a bolo tie, and a ticket stub from the 1944 Rose Bowl. That's pretty much it. Whereas if I were to shove off tomorrow, there's a nice room full of instruments that would need to be sold.

[mrmando]

Now a mandolin, owned by one of the most influential senators in the last 100 years, who would have become President if not for his ill health, is worth at least 1 million dollars. This is the eBay deal of the decade. Going once ... Going twice ... and ...
[/QUOTE]
Well, I would have become President too, if not for the fact that I hate politics. I wonder what my mandolins are worth?

A few days ago when it was rumored that the Packers might pay Brett Favre $20 million not to play, I thought about calling them up. Hey, I'd agree not to play for them too, and all I'd want is $19 million.

[MikeEdgerton]

Hardly a day goes by that I don't ask myself "how would Sheridan Downey have played that".

Senator Downey was once asked his position on the Monroe Doctrine. Senator Downey replied "Well, that ain't no part of nothin'!"

You guys are killing me. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Links]

[QUOTE]Senator Downey was once asked his position on the Monroe Doctrine. Senator Downey replied "Well, that ain't no part of nothin'!"

Au contrair! I believe that was Bill Monroe's response when asked about the Sheridan Doctrine!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Stephen Lind]

the thing i'd really like to know is

which of Saturn's moons his property's on

[mandolirius]

You gotta give this guy credit. He's clearly a comedic genius. Some of the biggest laughs I've had on this site have come from this thread.

[mrmando]

What's really screwy is this: Eric's ad refers to a 1938 Time magazine article to establish his claim that Sen. Downey played the mandolin. But it so happens that old Time articles are archived on the Web, and you can look this one up and read it here (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,883769-3,00.html) if you so choose. When you do, it becomes abundantly clear that Eric is misrepresenting what the article says.

The phrase "At Harvard, where he took a law degree, he was pistol champion as well as a mandolin player" does indeed appear in the article. However, it refers not to Downey, but to Philip Bancroft, the Republican who lost to Downey in the 1938 California senatorial race. Read up on Downey and you'll find that he got his law degree not from Harvard, but from the University of Michigan.

So the Time article does not even constitute evidence that Downey played the mandolin; rather, it says that Bancroft, his opponent, played the mandolin. So much for the mandolin-playing senator. I don't see any solid evidence to support the idea that the mandolin in the ad belonged to Downey at all. A guy who'll lie about how much he paid for a mandolin at an estate auction is just as likely to lie about who owned it.

There's a town in SoCal named Downey; I played a gig there once. But Downey's papers are archived at a library in Berkeley; the library is named for Philip Bancroft's dad. There's irony for you.

P.S. A signed letter from Richard Nixon on vice-presidential stationery -- that's gotta be worth ... I dunno ... somethin'.

[laddy jota]

Of course, a mandolin previously owned by Philip Bancroft would have the same value as one perviously owned by Sheridan Downey. If Dan Quayle had owned it - same deal.

[f5loar]

Ahhh.... but had the mandolin belonged to a young Senator John F. Kennedy and on the headstock was the red lipstick stain that DNA showed to be that of a young Marilyn Monroe then it might be worth a cool half million or more.
AS far as this seller getting the wrong guy from the TIME article I learned from my father "never argue with a crazy man". I think that applies here.

[mrmando]

Ahhh.... but had the mandolin belonged to a young Senator John F. Kennedy and on the headstock was the red lipstick stain that DNA showed to be that of a young Marilyn Monroe then it might be worth a cool half million or more.
I guess that would indicate Kennedy's idea of Monroe-style mandolin licks.

[MikeEdgerton]

I guess that would indicate Kennedy's idea of Monroe-style mandolin licks.
This is just so wrong... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Jim MacDaniel]

Of course, a mandolin previously owned by Philip Bancroft would have the same value as one perviously owned by Sheridan Downey. If Dan Quayle had owned it - same deal.
But Dan Quayle would have spelled it "Mandoline".

[F5GRun]

Im sure Philip Bancroft is just about rolling over in his grave knowing that SD is being creditied with his pistol shooting and mandolin playin!

This thread just continues to make my day.

[Loki]

Thank you all for making my week. I hope it gets listed again.

[JeffS]

If this gets re-listed I am going to ask the seller if I can send him my Fender mandolin to be photographed next to the Senator's. That would surely increase the value of mine to where I'd be able to sell it and get a Weber.

[Mandojulie]

I had looked at this thread earlier in the month but I had missed the later posts until it was bumped by JeffS.

mrmando you have my vote for funniest Cafe comment of all times. "Monroe Style Licks" OH, MY! That's a good one. Monroe Style Licks! Way too funny.

Julie

[woodwizard]

All I can think of to say is ... THIS GUY IS NUTS!!! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Jason Kessler]

Gentlemen, I pray you: cease.

I am the lucky winner of this fine musical instrument and crucial slice of our country's history.

I am not only a mandolin player and a regular contributor to the Cafe, I am also President of the Senator Sheridan E. Downey Appreciation Society, Montgomery County Chapter. #So I can assure you that The Senator was, indeed, a mandolin player. #In addition to the afore mentioned Time Magazine article of 1938, which states inarguably that The Senator was a mandolin player, I have records which indicate that:

1. #On March 7, 1932, in a conversation with Capitol Hill lobbyist Phylo Jenks regarding the signing of a bill which would give Federal aid to hurricane-stricken Port Arthur, Texas, The Senator was heard to use the phrase, "string them along for a while."

2. #The Senator's wife was the former Althea C. GIBSON.

3. #In a Washington restaurant on the night of June 23, 1924, The Senator was heard to remark about the entrance of the mistress of then-Democratic House Leader James S. Winnifer, "Why, here come James's tail piece."

As I believe that the evidence speaks for itself, I'll assume that I have laid the matter to rest.

As to the instrument itself, you may rest assured that it is an absolute "HORSE," worth every penny I paid for it and more. #Pending receipt of an underwriting check from The McClean Estate (which should have arrived some time ago), the instrument will occupy the place of honor in the Senator Sheridan E. Downey Appreciation Society, Montgomery County Chapter Museum, space newly available since my MOM threw out my BASEball cards without ASKing me.

The Senator himself would, I'm sure, scratch his head in bewilderment if he could see how distrustful, sarcastic, and callow his Countrymen have become, and, across the bridge of time, I sadly join him.

Gentlemen, I Remain, As Ever, Your Humble Servant-

[man dough nollij]

Jason,

Please forgive me. My sarcasm and evident distrust were rooted in the most painful and unbearable throes of envy. I knew when I first saw the auction that the most desirable mandolin of all time would (sadly) never be mine. I felt as if the very doors of hell had closed on my soul. You are the luckiest man alive.

Sincerely,

Lee

[Joel Spaulding]

F4Fake :


Best #post #EVER

Mando content - Comicbook Guy probably doesn't own a Sheridan model Gibson.

[Jim MacDaniel]

F4: brillliant fake post

[Jim MacDaniel]

er, I mean F4fake: brilliant post -- and congrats on owning a true piece of American political and musical history.