I saw this on Ebay, but I noticed that it was barely a 20 minute drive from me. I ended up getting it for a good enough price that I think I'll come out around market value once the restoration work is paid for. The serial dates from 1907, as do the features: inlayed "shell" pickguard, narrow V-shaped neck and a flattened carve profile in between the "Orville" style and the later oval-hole instruments. Everything appears to be original, including the canvas-covered end-opening case. It's missing most of the binding on one side of the neck, but otherwise it's all intact. There are a couple of 1/2" side cracks emanating from the screws that hold on the tailpiece, but no other structural damage.
I think it needs a neck reset and probably a refret to boot. The board is in pretty nice shape, but the frets have divots in them that go most of the way down. Is there anything unusual about this particular era of Gibson that would make these repairs more difficult than usual for a mandolin? I know that both neck resets and refrets are costly operations, but given the overall state of the instrument (and the low purchase price) I think they're easily justified.
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