Folk Art Inlaid Banjo, ca. 1900
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GUEST:
This was home-made by a great-uncle of mine back around in the early 1900s, from 23 different pieces of wood, with a legend. He gave it to my grandfather in 1920, and my grandfather played it for years. He played by ear, but he could play any instrument, and he loved playing this old banjo.
APPRAISER:
So do you actually remember him playing it?
GUEST:
I do, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And what kind of... Were they playing old-time?
GUEST:
They played a lot of bluegrass, and he loved Christian music. It's kinda like the old Southern Baptist type music.
APPRAISER:
The main woods I see are pine in the body, I see walnut in the neck, I see cherry with those diamonds in the neck.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Somebody made this and gave it to your grandfather?
GUEST:
Uh-huh, yeah, his uncle, my great-uncle, gave it to him.
APPRAISER:
And your great-uncle made it earlier than that?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISESR: Oh, okay. Was this made by your relatives in West Virginia?
GUEST:
No, they actually lived in Kentucky at that time.
APPRAISER:
The thing that I want to talk about is how people like your great-uncle did things like this, and they would take what was really designed to be a utilitarian object, and then they'd turn it into a piece of folk art, a thing of beauty that 100 years later, a guy like me gets excited because it's got the inlay, it's got all these little diamonds tacked on it. He didn't just do it on the front. He did it on the back, too.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Put the little heart cut-outs in the back.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And it probably gave it a little bit of a more sort of resonator sound. So is this your grandfather's information there?
GUEST:
Yeah, that's my grandfather.
APPRAISER:
Well, and you can tell it's all done with things that your great-uncle would have had around there, like these big tacks, like you see... big tacks like that on upholstery. And then everything else was carved by hand. This is a wonderful thing, and it doesn't matter really if it's playable or not. To me, it's like eye candy.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
You know, whenever I see things like this, great folk art or anything, like a painting or whatever, when you look at it, it draws you in from across the room.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And that's what this does. Now, where do you have it in your house?
GUEST:
I actually have it in a... kind of nestled in a basket, where it won't have anything rubbing on it and stuff.
APPRAISER:
But you've got it out where you can see it?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Your grandfather put "1920" on the back of it, so it could be as early as the late 1800s, maybe 1900s.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Which is really good. I think a value for this retail would be $3,000 or $4,000.
GUEST:
Oh, now that's great.
APPRAISER:
Probably gonna stay in the family, isn't it?
GUEST:
Oh, yes, sir. Yes. My mother would kill me otherwise. (laughing) (playing banjo) To me, it's his love, so I want it to be seen.
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