1924 loar at elderly

[AlanN]

Was going through some boxes, came upon this gorgeous hunk, all original (with case) except bridge top, with Virzi....$38,000.

[cooper4205]

cool, what year was that? looking back, those must've been the good ol' days for a mando player with some spare cash!

[f5loar]

Investment in a Loar in 1996 at $38,000 today brings you $160,000.
Investment in 1000 shares of Enron at $38/share in 1996 would bring you zlich today!
Investment in 1996 a Loaded Cadillac at $38,000 today would bring you $1000.
I'll stick to pickin'& grinin' over grieving and crying!

[cooper4205]

that's amazing how much they've appreciated in 10 years, almost four times as much, so are we looking at half a mill in 2016 or should it level off somewhere?

[Mike Buesseler]

so are we looking at half a mill in 2016 or should it level off somewhere?

That, I would say, is a million dollar question. If anyone had a certain answer to it, an F5 would cost exactly that much ($500K) today. The way I learned it, the price of investments (in an open market) exactly reflects it's future expected value...or something like that.

[danmills]

An investment of $38k in a large cap mutual fund in 1996 would be worth about $90k or so today (before taxes). Not as good as a Loar, but better than Enron or the Cadillac!

[evanreilly]

Yeah, and all of that!!
The first Loar I saw for sale in a music shop was $800.
Being a mere callow, wet-behind-the-ears youth, I did not have the money, of course.
The F-4 next to it wsa $400.00, by the way. that is interesting.

[sprucetop1]

I saw a Loar for sale here in the UK in 1965 for £75....say $175 then. I didn't buy it........John

[Darryl Wolfe]

73725, $300 from downtown music store in Cleveland (Epsteins), 1967

$1200, $2000 1968,1970 72204 and 72615

$5500, $6000 1976 75940 and 72615

[delsbrother]

That's cool Darryl.. Is that info (purchase date and price - for those Loar owners willing to disclose) in the F5 Journal? It would make an interesting read..

Darrell

[Darryl Wolfe]

No, Those are ones I either purchased, was offered, or that owner doesn't care if anyone knows he paid $300 or $1200 for. #There are only a few with that attitude. In general terms most owners do not want their purchase price info known.

[Bob Denton]

And then there is California property!!

[Darryl Wolfe]

And then there is California property!!

Ha..It's not to easy to "flip" Loars

[cooper4205]

was that $300 price just a good, one of a kind deal at a store or did something happen between 67 and 68 in the world of vintage mandolins to make the loar go from $300 to $1200 in a year? is that when the collectibility began to out-weigh the playability whith loars? i mean everyone knew they were good mandolins then, but when did the loar mystique, and the fervor over them, start to really take-off and the price be higher than contemporary mandolins?

[f5loar]

Vintage took off in 1969 when a former member of the Byrds teamed up with a former member of the Buffalo Springfield and a former member of the British group The Hollies and decided to record together and went into Gruhns and Mandolin Bros buying up old top of the line instruments.

[Bill Halsey]

Was going through some boxes, came upon this gorgeous hunk, all original (with case) except bridge top, with Virzi....$38,000.

That was #75691, of which I did an extensive b/w photo shoot; see some of the images on the Archive at http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_mando.pl?192.

Coincidentally, #74000 was at Elderly at the same time @ $40k. Hog heaven.

[f5loar]

did you take b/w photos of 74000? It was near mint.

[Bill Halsey]

did you take b/w photos of 74000? It was near mint.

And did it ever sound, too. No, Tom -- unfortunately, it was getting late and I wanted to get some bench time in with these instruments, so I never did much with the '23, even though those are my preference. In those pre-digital days, I was trying to capture reflections to help document countours and details. Of course, now I know I should have sold my cameras, mortgaged my dog and just taken it home.

However, I can share a shot we did at the end of the day, when we took a little poke at the other Stan by doing a "Mandolin Brother & Sister" pose (I don't think either Stan will mind.) My wife Marilyn is holding the '23 sidebound, and Stan has the '24 w/Virzi. Yum.

[f5loar]

They both look brand new! 74000 was at LoarFest West.

[Ken Waltham]

Yeah, I've played that 74000... a pretty passible mandolin.....

On a serious note, I remember distinctly that F5 at Elderly, and thinking there was no way in the world I could ever afford it. I really would've loved it, but there was no chance. However, someone with the same B-Day as the F5 got it, and deservedly so!
Ken

[AlanN]

I also remember that issue coming in the mail, thinking "Wow, I would love that mandolin". I showed it to people at work, they thought I was nuts. That was when 40 grand was the benchmark, where it stood for quite a while, as I recall.

[mandoman4807]

An investment of $38k in a large cap mutual fund in 1996 would be worth about $90k or so today (before taxes). Not as good as a Loar, but better than Enron or the Cadillac!

And then there is google #Once at $35.00 a share, now up over $450.00 a share. There are many getting very wealthy on this investment and easer to obtain than a Loar as well



Darrell