A Selmer for $3,000 ?

Joli Gadjo

The add says :

Everything is this guitar is original. Stamped inside "Henri SELMER PARIS Ref. 543". Sold with OHSC and 2 tortoise picks.
This guitar became famous b/c of Django who played them.
This guitar belonged to my father in law who bought it in the 1945s and played with orchestras at the time.

http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_ ... htm?ca=4_s

Number seems about right for a guitar from around 1942.
I've never seems a Selmer with maple back ?
To me it looks like an old Patenotte.... The dovetail doesn't looks right as well.

MaxwellGarces

the link seems to be broken.

Joli Gadjo

No it's not broken, it's just not on anymore because the item has been sold.
The kids from Manoucheries say that it was a lady who was selling her father's guitar but wasn't aware of its value. It was a true Selmer, and has been sold to someone around Toulouse for 5,000 Euros.
Jacques Mazolenni often says that there must be lots of great Selmers or related gypsy guitars still sitting in some people's basement that haven't been released to the market yet.
Miracle happens... there might be more to come...

MaxwellGarces

thats incredible. i always dream of one day walking past a garage sale and seeing one for sale for like $100 bucks. you know there are several out there just waiting to be discovered yet....

frater

And it was quite possibly a solid maple one. Boys, those are RARE!

Frank Wekenmann

Joli Gadjo wrote:

The kids from Manoucheries say that it was a lady who was selling her father's guitar but wasn't aware of its value.

Why didn't someone tell her? 100 points for cleverness, 0 points for ethics...

Heretic

Frank:
You're spot on, if this was genuine.

I went to your band's web-site, and loved the sound clips of the music and your singer! I wish I read German, but music is universal - beautiful.

thickpick

Frank W wrote:

Why didn't someone tell her? 100 points for cleverness, 0 points for ethics...

I'm not so sure. There's a longstanding "tradition" of people finding undiscovered gems at yard sales. Here's a whole story about it: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/findi ... id=8904941

I don't think a purchaser has any obligation to tell the seller (who has set the price) what the true value of what he/she is selling is.

Frank Wekenmann

thickpick wrote:

Frank W wrote:

Why didn't someone tell her? 100 points for cleverness, 0 points for ethics...

I'm not so sure. There's a longstanding "tradition" of people finding undiscovered gems at yard sales. Here's a whole story about it: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/findi ... id=8904941

I don't think a purchaser has any obligation to tell the seller (who has set the price) what the true value of what he/she is selling is.

A "tradition" doesn't make it right in a moral sense. Of course there is no law against it, so nobody has to tell a seller, but how would you feel if you sold somthing way under its real value just because you did not know? Wouldn't you be very greatful if the buyer told you about it? If so, why behave differently? The golden rule is in my eyes just the most basic rule of ethical behavior: Do to others what you would like to be done to you.
The fact that many people don't follow this rule doesn't make it less right.

I went to your band's web-site, and loved the sound clips of the music and your singer! I wish I read German, but music is universal - beautiful.

Heretic,

thank you very much for yor kind words! I will try to make an English translation of our website when I come back from France, where we will be playing in Aix-en-Provence (the birthplace of Tchan-Tchou).

Au revoir,
Frank

brandoneon

Frank W wrote:

thank you very much for yor kind words! I will try to make an English translation of our website when I come back from France, where we will be playing in Aix-en-Provence (the birthplace of Tchan-Tchou).

Frank,

I also listened to your website and you guys sound great! Where and when will you be playing in Aix? I live 40 minutes away and would love to see your band perform, but could not find info on your page.

Sorry to take the post further from it's original intention ... :oops:

Brandon

thickpick

Frank W wrote:

A "tradition" doesn't make it right in a moral sense. Of course there is no law against it, so nobody has to tell a seller, but how would you feel if you sold somthing way under its real value just because you did not know? Wouldn't you be very greatful if the buyer told you about it? If so, why behave differently? The golden rule is in my eyes just the most basic rule of ethical behavior: Do to others what you would like to be done to you.
The fact that many people don't follow this rule doesn't make it less right.

Frank, that's a very good point. If we look at the stock market, it's built upon the idea that one wants to buy a stock that others undervalue, or sell a stock that others overvalue. The assumption is that it is the responsibility of those in the market to appropriately value their own assets, and those who inappropriately value their assets tend to lose money (mortgage-backed securities, anyone?) In the yard sale/Selmer example, the difference is that the buyer and the seller are not faceless corporations or stock exchanges, and thus as you point out, perhaps a different standard should apply. What's interesting about the link I posted earlier (of the ABC story) is that those who inadvertently sold Picassos for $2 were fairly disappointed (to put it mildly), but seemed to accept it as par for the course.

In any case, I didn't mean to weigh down a Selmer thread with talk of capitalistic ethics, but I find this stuff interesting, so thanks for your thoughts!