Red line case

**Russ Jordan** · Jun-16-2007, 11:32pm

Anybody here gonna "start your bidding in high four figures" as suggested in the ad?

**mrmando** · Jun-17-2007, 12:51am

Er, ah, no.

Mitch Simpson has been trying to unload one of these on eBay between 1K and 2K, and hasn't had any luck yet. If I wanted to put four figures on a case, I would try Mitch's auction. The first of those figures would be a 1 and the second would be no higher than a 3.

But a case like that is no good without the Loar to go in it, which I haven't got.

**Glassweb** · Jun-17-2007, 8:58am

This is not a rectangular Loar case being offered for sale... it is a shaped, red-lined case from the latter 1920's.

**mythicfish** · Jun-17-2007, 9:11am

"Precious .... precious"

Curt

**Steven Stone** · Jun-17-2007, 9:36am

IMHO vintage cases are only useful when it comes time to sell a high-ticket instrument.

I have a MINT case for my '31 Fern (complete with canvas cover) and frankly I wouldn't use it to carry my mando on a dare. It just isn't well padded or easy to carry when compared to a modern case.

Here's a pic of mine:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums....se1.jpg

My case sits in a nice cool closet waiting on the day I die or sell my Fern, whichever comes first.

**Jim Hilburn** · Jun-17-2007, 10:10am

Steven, good point, but on the other hand Monroe carried his in that kind of case and you can imagine what it went through. It made it all the way to the fire poker incident.
I'm with you. I like a case that doesn't have an imprint of the bridge in the top.

**danb** · Jun-17-2007, 10:37am

Some day I'll finally pluck up the cash to request a copy of this case in emerald from John Paganoni:

**Russ Jordan** · Jun-17-2007, 12:29pm

So, would very many Ferns have actually had an original shaped case, which seems to be where the seller is trying to attract interest? I associate shaped cases more with F2's and F4's.

**Glassweb** · Jun-17-2007, 1:35pm

I'm pretty sure what the seller has in mind$$$! In any case, in all my years of experience with Loar and Fern F5s I have seen only a couple that were in a red-lined shaped case. Almost without exception these mandolins were purchased with the rectangular case. My feeling is that in recent years (because of their actual and inherent value) people have been holding onto the original rectangular case and selling their F5 with a Calton or some other good quality case. I'm always a bit suspect when I here "it doesn't have a rectangular case". Sign o' the times I guess...

**Ken Waltham** · Jun-17-2007, 3:49pm

The "red line" cases are too late in Gibson chronology to be associated with Loars or Ferns from the classic period. They come later, and are more 30's cases.
The hot pink interiors are cool, but they are for much later Ferns, and the art deco flowerpots, like Sam Bush's F5.
There are some.. very few, Loars and classic Ferns that come in shaped cases, I know of two, but those cases have green lining, and are exactly like F4 cases, but made to fit a style 5. A very different animal.
Ken

**David O'Brien** · Jun-17-2007, 11:38pm

This has been a great discussion, stuff I can learn from; I wish this kind of discussion went on at CoMando, yall come on back. . .

**mrmando** · Jun-18-2007, 1:12am

Sorry, my bad. I guess a photo would have helped. So it's a shaped case with hot pink lining and a red exterior stripe? (Note the use of the word "stripe" to remove the inherent ambiguity in a phrase like "red lined case with pink lining.")

Such a case might be rare, but rarity alone doesn't make it worth a high four figures...

**AlanN** · Jun-18-2007, 6:32am

Ken is correct. To compliment my F-5, I went ahead and picked up a square, re-lined case. And was told at the time that it was actually for a later mandolin.

**danb** · Jun-18-2007, 6:46am

Most of the Loars and early ferns we have images of cases for are the square shape, and lined in either dark emerald or a lighter lime green silk velvet. Some are red (the same vivid red as the early f4 cases).

H5s came in lime green shaped cases from the few examples I've seen. L5 guitars in a green silk lined shaped guitar case.

Later ferns get the square case with the more pinkish color silk velvet lining, and finally the shaped "red line" cases. Cases are trickier to definitively correlate to instruments as it's much much easier to change them, so we're more or less assuming that the earlier the record, the more original the data was etc etc.

The shaped cases with the silk lining were not a unique Loar feature or change, I should add. There are catalog records and surviving examples of the "upgraded" F4 case which looks just like a loar case, but slightly shorter and usually with the purple felt style lining.

Lyon & Healy mandolins have been documented in shaped red or green silk lined cases dating before the loar period as well (one in a recent cafe thread!).

Generally speaking, the green lining colors appear to have cropped up right around the Loar period. Usually a snakehead , f2/f4 with truss rod will appear in a green-lined shaped case.

**danb** · Jun-18-2007, 6:55am

Here are a couple illustrations.

Early F-model cases were larger to accomodate the larger-bodied 3-pointers. 1903 F2 case above, 1915 F2 below.

The Amodel cases from the early years had more of an arch to them, almost like a mixing bowl over the top

**danb** · Jun-18-2007, 6:56am

1921 Green vs 1909 Red. I'd call this green "Emerald" and the red is the typical top-end F4 case red silk. The 3-pointer is as big as the earlier ones, but stuffed tightly into the case (the peghead barely fits inside) that fits a teens style 2-point. I'm fairly sure it's original to that 3-pointer (the gaps in the padding match the location of the body points), though it could be a teens case

**danb** · Jun-18-2007, 6:57am

Two different snakeheads in different green cases. The left one is more of a flannel/felt, the right is dark forest green silk velvet that has faded mostly.

Note that the case on the left is *NOT* original to that instrument, it had a matching dark green case. The light green color is probably from a '21 or so A model. Most early brown snakeheads will have this dark green case