Help wanted! Tracking down / Identifying Gibson F4 Mandolin

[afranken]

Hello! Seeking expert mandolin knowledge on the following picture. This was my great grandfather's mandolin. My parents sold it at an Ohio antique show (Rennigers?) in June 1989. Unfortunately, all I have is a pic (no serial #). Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 and my parents and I wish we could get it back, especially since I've started playing mandolin.

From my limited knowledge, I'm estimating that this is an early teens (1914-1916) F4 (based on the peghead / inlay & Handel tuners, and some browsing on mandolinarchive.com).

Is it a lost cause to think that I may ever see this mandolin again?
I have heard that all of the gibson inlays were hand done so it could be possible to identify an exact match... Any other factors to consider? Any help is appreciated. I do realize this is asking a lot ;-)

Alex

Picture below:

[John McCoy]

There are two F-4's in the Classifieds right now, newly listed by a gentleman in Canada. You might take a look at them and see if anything comes to mind.

[Rroyd]

Can you blow up the picture to see if there are any identifying scratches, distinctive tailpiece engraving, or anything that might make it identifiable? Does anyone recall whether he might have written his name or initials in it or in the case? Was there anything in the case that anyone recalls, like a tuning fork or strap? Did he play it regularly, or had it been in its case for 20 or 30 years? Had any local players who could still be around ever seen it or played it? Anything you can find out from any source might prove to be valuable in identifying it if your search turns up any prospects. Perhaps the company who sold it is still in business, and might have some information about where it went. You are over 20 years late starting your search, but you never know; stranger things have happened. (Some years back, we were searching for a community school bell that had been stolen about 20 years earlier, and when we located it, they demanded proof that it was actually ours. It turned out the 80-year-old daughter of the school district clerk still had many of his records, including the record and the details of the bell's purchase, in 1903, from Sears Roebuck, and we easily proved it was the same bell.) This is a good place to start looking. Try being more specific in your thread title, like "Looking for teens f4 sold in wherever Ohio in 1989." It's very likely it's still out there, and that might jog a memory or two. Good luck; I hope you can find it.

[allenhopkins]

...Is it a lost cause to think that I may ever see this mandolin again?...

Yeah, pretty much. It was sold 23 years ago, and you have no serial number to go on. You could try going to the antique dealer, but if it was sold at a "show," there's probably no record by this time -- sales receipt, etc.

Might make more sense to try acquiring a similar instrument, but of course you won't have the family connection. You can try contacting major vintage dealers (Elderly, Gruhn, Mandolin Brothers etc.), but with no more ID than one pic, they'll never be able to tell which F-4 this is.

Too bad; this is probably why I never sell anything. Or it may just be that I'm a hoarder.