It's possible that he's seen mine. I'm working my way through a large inherited collection (almost all worth less than face value). That's why I still do traditional Christmas cards: it's a way to use 4-6 stamps on each mailing.
I've owned a Balabuska... sold it though
- Thread starter Bobkitty
- Start date
It's possible that he's seen mine. I'm working my way through a large inherited collection (almost all worth less than face value). That's why I still do traditional Christmas cards: it's a way to use 4-6 stamps on each mailing.
Opposite
Most of us, we really need nothing and if we want something we just buy it.
My wife worked in banking for years. Instead of buying me stupid gifts, she would collect old money brought into the bank, and give it to me as gifts.
She obviously paid face value for it. But I have gotten hundreds to thousands of old currency and coins over the years. Lots of it was old silver coins, in perfect Mint State condition (obviously have came from collections). Our thoughts were someone in the family had died, and the coins were coming from an estate.
Talk about barn finds, pawn shop finds, or whatever. My wife just waited at the bank for the dummies to come to bank to trade all that old collection coins for crisp new bills.
I am one of those darn cue flippers that everyone cusses here. But I have traded some awesome cues and while I have traded away some great cues, I usually have traded "up" and that lessens the pain of getting rid of one I have been holding on to for a while. An example, I sold a Jerry Franklin ebony nosed Southwest, to free up funds to get a Balabushka cue. I think I had about $2K in the Franklin, and sold it for around $5K.
Ken
Most of us, we really need nothing and if we want something we just buy it.
My wife worked in banking for years. Instead of buying me stupid gifts, she would collect old money brought into the bank, and give it to me as gifts.
She obviously paid face value for it. But I have gotten hundreds to thousands of old currency and coins over the years. Lots of it was old silver coins, in perfect Mint State condition (obviously have came from collections). Our thoughts were someone in the family had died, and the coins were coming from an estate.
Talk about barn finds, pawn shop finds, or whatever. My wife just waited at the bank for the dummies to come to bank to trade all that old collection coins for crisp new bills.
I am one of those darn cue flippers that everyone cusses here. But I have traded some awesome cues and while I have traded away some great cues, I usually have traded "up" and that lessens the pain of getting rid of one I have been holding on to for a while. An example, I sold a Jerry Franklin ebony nosed Southwest, to free up funds to get a Balabushka cue. I think I had about $2K in the Franklin, and sold it for around $5K.
Ken
My father had a way of collecting unusual items and then selling them before their value really took off. He had an upside down airplane stamp back around 1970 or so. In the 60's he bought a new Aston Martin DB5 (James Bond car) but he was 6' 3" tall and didn't think ahead. All I remember as a kid riding in it was how loud it was. Sold it a few years later. Damn! lol
That's is the way I am. Should have run a pawn shop but I know nothing about jewelry. Living in Las Vegas from 1978 to 1999, I knew about Jerry Franklin. Bought 4 cues from him at his little house and sold them all. Once had a Gena cue with gambling cards, dice, etc. in ivory. Twice I bought a Jerry Franklin cue stick in the pawn shop that is now on TV. Bought for under $50 and sold for $1800. Tricked a pawn shop and I love it. Can't go back in time but I'm happy.
Last edited:
JC
Coos Cues
I spent a double eagle at the grocery store in 1974
Passed on a location for my shop that ended up being the highest traffic count intersection in the county. It sold for 1.6 million in 2006. I didn't buy it for 50 k in 1993.
Passed on another location that was too much money that Riteaid bought a year later for 8 times what I wouldn't pay for it from the person who did buy it.
Buy high and sell low and always have friends.
JC
Passed on a location for my shop that ended up being the highest traffic count intersection in the county. It sold for 1.6 million in 2006. I didn't buy it for 50 k in 1993.
Passed on another location that was too much money that Riteaid bought a year later for 8 times what I wouldn't pay for it from the person who did buy it.
Buy high and sell low and always have friends.
JC
Bought my first late-50s Sunburst Les Paul in the late 60s for $300 (they only cost $250 new, but then, Bloomfield & Clapton had adopted them, so why not?). Bought the second one in the early 70s for $1600 (finally realized how great they sounded). Bought the 3rd in 1980 for $3000, but sold it to buy realestate to live on (it was only a guitar, after all). Bought the 4th for $30,000 in the mid 90s (a good investment). Sold it to buy my antique car (big mistake, financially). Now, they sell for a quarter million. Which would I rather have? My old car was the fulfillment of a childhood dream (they will likely have to bury me in it). Over the years, I discovered that many of the ‘cheap’ guitars I once turned my nose up to actually sounded better. If you obtain an old Les Paul that belonged to someone famous, a million dollars is not out of the question. But, I would rather be driving my old T-Bird and playing great music on my cheap/old Harmony guitar. Buying & selling valuable vintage instruments is a complicated issue. You don’t just send off a million dollar guitar to a casual eBay purchaser. Reputation is everything in that business, and commissions ARE substantial,
Your not the only one. I sold an old bmx bike I had as a kid. It was a Nomura BMX.They were aluminum and broke pretty easy. So they are pretty rare and worth 5-6 thousand now. Also sold a 1987 buick regal limited. Only like 1500 were made with the grand national drivetrain. It was the ultimate sleeper.
Little link to the R Code Galaxie Sold a few years back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLX-5FhWbTw
Mine was in White
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLX-5FhWbTw
Mine was in White
Must have been a Les Paul Custom... they didn't make a LP Deluxe in '58.
But yeah, I've made some dumb moves, both guitars and cars. Funny what you
do when you need to recoup some money... I sold a couple of Leica cameras
that are worth tons now... stupid, stupid.
Traded a fancy Barry S. For a plain four point Gus... don't regret that one.
Last edited:
Funny, but I only assumed his ‘black’ ‘58 Les Paul was a 3PU custom, since that was the only black production example that year. But, I once came across a ‘custom order’ ‘58 Standard with a black finish (and yellow serial #). Custom colors WERE available at extra cost, so ANY LP model could have been custom ordered with a black finish in 58. Also, he COULD have owned any ‘58 LP model that had been refinished (often after being sent back to the Kalamazoo factory) in black. Plus, some unsold Black P90 equipped ‘Fretless Wonder’ Custom models from left-over earlier stock may well have left the factory in very early 58 (they weren’t big sellers) destined for dealer store inventory, and COULD have been delivered with a (yellow) 58 serial #. Not sure, but I think the factory may not have bothered to replicate the ‘inked’ serial # when a refinish was done. Could the ‘58’ year designation have come strictly from ‘word-of-mouth, or memory, I wonder? Maybe the OP could possibly shed some light?
The guitar was perfect in every way, not refinished. So, it must have been a Les Paul Custom and not a Deluxe. I only had it for a few days and that was in the 1980's. Gruhn Guitars thought it was pretty special and they would have told me in the phone call, after receiving it, if there was anything wrong. That's all I know about it except I wish I had it now.
Surely you remember whether it had 3 gold-metal pickups? Gruen is a dealer of some repute, so I assume he would have unscrewed the pickups to see if they had been tampered with before putting it up for sale. Very few experts could re-solder the original gold covers successfully (even though fake PAF’ decals WERE available by then), and fool someone familiar with untouched/vintage appearance.
BTW: I was once in a Chicago music store in the late 70s when Jimmy Peterik (‘Ides of March’) was trying out a black late 50s 3PU Custom. He only played a few notes before he did a ‘double take’, and asked the store owner if the pickups were really original? (they HAD been swapped out!).
BTW: I was once in a Chicago music store in the late 70s when Jimmy Peterik (‘Ides of March’) was trying out a black late 50s 3PU Custom. He only played a few notes before he did a ‘double take’, and asked the store owner if the pickups were really original? (they HAD been swapped out!).
P.S. I should add, that though the late 50s Gibson ‘Patent Aplied For’ pickups WERE the ‘holy grail, it turns out that the ‘Patent #’ early 60s pickups were virtually identical, and made with the exact same materials/process (excepting the rare late-‘59/‘60 ‘cream-colored’ plastic examples that were largely a result of a temporary shortage of the standard ‘black’ material normally used to make the winding bobbins), and sounded identical! So, I sold a lot of really great-sounding early 60s guitars with patent # PUs quite cheap, as it turns out, just because they had changed the decal by then!