Is this a Loar not documented?

[Tobin]

Sounds to me like neither she nor the thief knew the actual value. I wonder how many of these are still out there, unrecognized?

Anyway, I don't think the woman was blind. According to the article, she was "legally blind", which only means she has eyesight poor enough not to be able to drive, or to qualify her for a disability. But that doesn't mean she can't see anything.

[mrmando]

Sounds to me like neither she nor the thief knew the actual value.

No, read carefully. The article says it was appraised in 2009 for $225K. So she knew what it was worth, but the thief probably didn't know, judging from the fact that he told Heritage it was worth $5K.

[mrmando]

But there aren't any Loars in people's closets on Wall Street. Wait! Or are there?...

No, there aren't. The skeletons are taking up all the space.

[mrmando]

I would love to hear from the blind woman on her description of the Loar. She obviously had it out in a place that she checked regularly.

Er, no. He took it in June and she didn't report it missing until this past Sunday.

[Tobin]

No, read carefully. The article says it was appraised in 2009 for $225K. So she knew what it was worth, but the thief might not have known.

I read it as being an appraisal of a similar mandolin that they used for comparison. Being as this is an undocumented newly-discovered Loar, I would find it hard to believe that someone who knew enough about them actually appraised it in 2009 and never mentioned it.

But, I could be wrong.

[mrmando]

The lead sentence says that the stolen mandolin was "appraised at more than $200,000." There is no ambiguity in that sentence.

Admittedly, the piece isn't very well written on the whole, but we won't improve that by second-guessing it.

I would find it hard to believe that someone who knew enough about them actually appraised it in 2009 and never mentioned it.

A professional appraiser would maintain the customer's confidence. For obvious reasons, your average 87-year-old blind woman doesn't want the whole world knowing she has a $225K mandolin in the closet. Notice that even this news article doesn't mention the woman's name, although it does say what street she lives on, which itself is probably too much information.

[Tobin]

The lead sentence says that the stolen mandolin was "appraised at more than $200,000." There is no ambiguity in that sentence.

I assumed that was a new appraisal which happened as a result of the investigation. I just find it shocking that this old woman knew she had a $200k instrument, yet decided to keep it in a closet. That doesn't make any sense.

[Glassweb]

There are plenty of Lloyd Loar F5 owners that keep them in their closets.

[Dale Ludewig]

Glassweb, you beat me to it. The lady keeping said instrument in her closet makes plenty of sense, or at least could. If she did know the mandolin was worth that much, she might well feel that the fewer people that knew about it the better. Where else would the lady in the article store it? If legally blind, she would feel vulnerable. If she didn't know it was worth that much, why store it elsewhere?

There are quite a number of people on this forum who have very valuable instruments and probably keep them in their closet. And they don't have them in their signature lines.

[mrmando]

I assumed that was a new appraisal which happened as a result of the investigation.

Well, the bad writing is partly to blame:

A 2009 appraisal valued the mandolin built in 1923 by Lloyd Loar, the head engineer of Gibson, at $225,000.

There should be a comma after "mandolin," which would make the rest of the sentence a restrictive clause applying to the particular mandolin being discussed in the article. Reading it strictly as written, it means Loar "built" only one mandolin in 1923, which might or might not be the one stolen from the old lady in Wisconsin. Of course we know there's more than one Loar from 1923; we just can't be sure that the writer knows it.

But [1] a writer is more likely to leave out a comma than to write "the" when she means "a"; [2] she's already stated that this particular mandolin had been appraised for more than $200K; [3] there's nothing ambiguous about "2009," no matter how bad the rest of the sentence is.

I just find it shocking that this old woman knew she had a $200k instrument, yet decided to keep it in a closet. That doesn't make any sense.

Where do you keep YOUR Loar?

[mandolirius]

Sorry but yep, her, you, me and everyone reading this. Our intentions may be good but we fall short each and everyday whether we admit it or not.

Right, born into sin and spend our lives repenting. Where have I heard that before?

[Bernie Daniel]

The lead sentence says that the stolen mandolin was "appraised at more than $200,000." There is no ambiguity in that sentence.....

Do we know when that appraisal was done though - could it have been after the theft?

[mrmando]

Again, the article says the appraisal was done in 2009.

[barney 59]

Sorry but yep, her, you, me and everyone reading this. Our intentions may be good but we fall short each and everyday whether we admit it or not.

Sorry but you just didn't know Saint Grandma!

[f5loar]

I assumed that was a new appraisal which happened as a result of the investigation. I just find it shocking that this old woman knew she had a $200k instrument, yet decided to keep it in a closet. That doesn't make any sense.

Where else would you store a Loar? Not in an attic or basement. Closest maintain a good temp and humidity. Easy to get it out when you are ready to pick. I get from the story that Heritage has had it since June and it was photographed to be feature in their next Signature Instrument Auction. Not sure why they gave him $43K up front unless it was to keep it in their care until the auction is over and that $43K was a down payment before the final payment after auction. He'll get 10 years suspended with return of the $44k back to Heritage and Loar goes back to owner who turns it back to Heritage "to sell the darn thing. Ain't been doing nothin' but collecting dust in that closet.".

[FLATROCK HILL]

Right, born into sin and spend our lives repenting. Where have I heard that before?

George Jones?

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Scott T. - "This is a newly discovered serial number". It makes one wonder how many others are 'lurking'.Do we know absolutely the number of Loars made ?. If so,how many are unaccounted for ?.It can't be that many - or can it ??.
From f5loar - " Ain't been doing nothin' but collecting dust in that closet.". As much as i really dislike the idea of high quality instruments simply being 'stored' or 'on display' & un-played,the instrument is still the property of the lady & hers to do with what she likes. I'd like to think that maybe when this has been sorted out,she could be persuaded to sell it & let it be used for it's original purpose,
Ivan

[mandolirius]

George Jones?

[Tobin]

Where do you keep YOUR Loar?

In my fantasy world where I can afford an instrument that costs more than my house, it stays in a humidified, locked display case. I also wouldn't store $200k worth of jewelry in the silverware drawer in my kitchen, but perhaps I'm just odd in that respect.

[mrmando]

Well, going back to the article:

[1] It's more likely that she inherited the Loar from a relative than that she paid any large sum of money for it. It sounds as though she is of modest means, apart from the Loar, since Bat-Man gave her living conditions as an excuse for stealing the instrument. So it's probable that she doesn't have enough disposable income to afford a humidified, locked display case.
[2] What good is a display case to a blind woman?

[barney 59]

We don't know how or when she acquired the mandolin but since she's 87 she could have conceivably purchased this instrument pre Bluegrass boys when it would have been considered a "used" instrument that few people had interest in. She could have gotten it cheap. She may have played when she was younger but as happens to a lot of older people they find themselves drifting away from playing and so it ends up "collecting dust" in a closet.
Blind people are notoriously bad at keeping their windows washed and while one can have a place for everything and everything in it's place philosophy dust for a blind person must be a fact of life that you can't do much about without hiring a house cleaner. A display case would be really silly.
I've known some people with outrageously expensive instruments and while mine are not "outrageous" in their value they're pretty valuable and really valuable to me. I don't know anyone that has gone to any great pains to create a truly "secure" place to store their instruments beyond maybe a lock on their door. I live in a small town and can't remember the last time I locked a door.

[goaty76]

Here's one to think about. Had he not stolen it she may have never known the current value of it. Also it's a shame now that the news story is out even if she keeps it she probably can't do so in her home thanks to the media announcing "Old blind lady in Xxxxx, Texas has $200,000 mandolin in her closet!!".

Phil

[Glassweb]

all this speculation aside all i wanna know is how does it SOUND?

[OldSausage]

all this speculation aside all i wanna know is how does it SOUND?

I know, in almost all cases the most important question and always the last one answered.

[mrmando]

Here's one to think about. Had he not stolen it she may have never known the current value of it.

Ahem...

Also it's a shame now that the news story is out even if she keeps it she probably can't do so in her home thanks to the media announcing "Old blind lady in Xxxxx, Texas has $200,000 mandolin in her closet!!".

On second thought, forget I said anything.

There's no point in bemoaning the pitiful status of journalism if people don't actually read the articles.