$7,500 gets you a case.

[mando_steve]

Loar not included. I can't imagine spending that much for just a case. Tell me that price is way steep.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-Lloyd-Loa...efaultDomain_0

[AlanN]

I had me one o dem (looks like a dead ringer for it, actually, right down to the handle), it turned around a few times for 1/3 of that. This was a few years ago.

[MikeEdgerton]

I sold a mandolin for a friend years ago that was in a Loar case (green inside) that was in bad shape. They bidding was crazy at the end just because of the case. I have no idea where the market for these cases is now.

[f5loar]

The last Loar case I saw sold for $250 and it belonged to Bill Monroe. That was his estate sale in Nashville a few years ago.
I bet this guy will take the first $5000 that comes his way.

[MikeEdgerton]

One like this went for $2500.00 a few years on eBay. The buyer and seller were both members of the cafe.

[barney 59]

if you have a Loar that you want to sell but you don't have the case does having the case increase the value by 10%? If so then it's a good buy. That is a very small market to try and reach.

[f5loar]

The smell alone is worth the price. Those Loars just don't smell right unless they rest in their original cases. Actually there are very few Loars found without their original case even if in bad shape. To find an empty one is a rare bird indeed.

[MikeEdgerton]

The one I sold was with a 1932 F2 that had been refinished at the factory in the 60's. It ended up with that mandolin after someone at Mandolin Brothers paired them accidentally. I only wish I'd know what it was all worth when I was selling it.

[Mandolin Mick]

I guess it's worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.

[Wade Purcell]

It's my case. A nice brown 1929 A-0 came in it. I have a 1951 Fender Esquire and most dealers want at least 5 grand for the right case. I've always been told by dealers that the original case is 10% of the value of the instrument. There are less Loars than 1951 Tele's and Esquires. All the big players tell me the market is down, but they are still rich. It will be a "keeper" till I get a descent price. Find another. It's not worth much on my end John Q. Public, if a dealer had it would be worth way more and would be even more rare. I know how the game works.

[fscotte]

If you're gonna pay $200,000 for a Loar, I don't see how you'd have much argument with paying $7500 for the case.

[Ben Milne]

I'd suggest if someone is paying 200k for a Loar it'd be mint with all fittings and a case...

Wade... shouldn't you case your price on the market price of a 1929 A-0?

[Bernie Daniel]

Not to be confrontational or antagonistic but what is considered Lloyd Loar era?

I would think only 1921 - 1924? Thus, any thing made before or after is not? I expect that while this case is probably identical to the cases used for the genuine Loar mandolins if it is a 1929 year case it is technically not Loar-era is it?

One thing other thing, and Mike mentioned this as well. I was under the impression that all Loar-signed F-5's came in a green lined case? At least the few that I have seen were them.

I agree with the comment that if a dealer has a piece it always seems to be "worth more" then if an individual owns it!

[Ben Milne]

so i guess It wouldn't be the original case for the A-0 (A model would not be sold in rectangular case no?)
though I do wonder how it can be determined that it is (or isn't) a loar era case... the colour of lining my indeed help?

[midnightmando]

If that's the going rate for a "Loar era" case, what do ya'll think I could get for the case I got from Frank Wakefield that formerly housed his Loar (complete with old airline and festival stickers), and which he traded David Grisman for at Carnegie Hall in the 60's? I guess this is a question of historical significance vs. appreciated historical value.

Only for the collector I guess.

[AlanN]

Funny, I saw your handle and immediately thought of the Wake tune Midnight On The Mandolin.

That there case has some serious mojo, at least a million dollars

[Bernie Daniel]

If that's the going rate for a "Loar era" case, what do ya'll think I could get for the case I got from Frank Wakefield that formerly housed his Loar (complete with old airline and festival stickers), and which he traded David Grisman for at Carnegie Hall in the 60's? I guess this is a question of historical significance vs. appreciated historical value.

Only for the collector I guess.

Wow that must be the case made famous by the Wakefield-Grisman discussion on the "Mandolin Extravaganza" CD?

[midnightmando]

'tis the same case. Sure wish his mandolin came with it (although I did get a pretty sweet deal on the mandolin it did come with).

[Wade Purcell]

Elderly has a red lined case just like mine housing a 225k Loar F-5. They have a green lined case housing a 250k Loar F-5. Larry Wexer said it looked good to him (very nice guy btw). Over the past 25 years of vintage instrument hunting I have found several intruments that are in wrong cases. Sometimes it's a good thing (as in this case) and sometimes a bad thing. The 1929 very clean A-0 was in the wrong case and I'm very glad for that. I once found a 1951 Tele with a 1963 Strat neck on it in a 1963 white strat case. Life IS like a box of chocolates ain't it !

[barney 59]

If you can document the Wakefield case--photos of Frank with the case or whatever--then it probably would increase it's value somewhat. There are a great deal of instruments that show up with a celebrity claim but each time it changes hands it becomes more removed--you may know that something had belonged to someone because you know where you got it. If it then comes into my possession I know it because maybe I believe you but from then on it's just hearsay. It also would matter if the item in question was something that was genuinely used by the artist or was it just something he had. Grisman buys and sells a great many instruments but unless it was something that he performed with or recorded with it shouldn't make it anymore of a collectors item just because ya got it from him. If someone is lucky enough to have picked up something at a great price that turns out to be valuable or it becomes valuable over time I think it's alright if they profit from that,why not, if it was acquired honestly. If someone asked your opinion about what something was worth and you knew it was valuable and lied and offered them a low ball price that would be dishonest. If you ran into an instrument that you knew to have a great value but with a price on it that was way under valued I'm not sure your are required to inform the seller. If you dabble with these old instruments it's actually somewhat of a rare experience to turn a profit and it takes an occasional lucky break to keep you out of the red.

[f5loar]

There were dozens of original Loars in the red lined cases. This ones appears to be from 1924. They went back to green in 1925 and then you started seeing the sharp fusha pink/red lined shape cases with Ferns. Then again you saw red lined oblong Loar style cases in the early 40's. There were also a few blue lined Loar and Fern cases.
Frank's case worth more? How could it when Monroe's Loar case sold for $250 at his son's yard sale? I would think a Monroe Loar case would carry more mojo then a well worn sticker infested Frank Loar case.

[jim simpson]

Could the case sold at Monroe's auction be the double case that Ritchie K. bought? Ritchie can you answer this?

[f5loar]

There were about a dozen cases (F and A styles) sold at Monroe's tag sale not the auction. There was only one Loar case in green. The others were the homemade double case and at least one Kentucky Superior rectangle case. Some were decent, some were junk but they all had a price tag of $250 each on them.

[danb]

There were about a dozen cases (F and A styles) sold at Monroe's tag sale not the auction. There was only one Loar case in green. The others were the homemade double case and at least one Kentucky Superior rectangle case. Some were decent, some were junk but they all had a price tag of $250 each on them.

I think we can all safely agree that $250 for Bill's original Loar case would be quite a bargain. If anyone were to offer that one for sale, I'm sure it would fetch an extraordinary price. If you bought that one Tom, I'll happily give you a 10x profit

Also, as Tom says, there are certainly red loar cases with this fabric. They seem to group around the last Dec '24 batch from what I've seen, and this one does look nice to me. No financial interest.