GUEST: In 1999, my uncle passed away, and my brothers and I inherited it, basically. I was executor, and we ended up purchasing all of the string instruments that my grandmother had, which were this Fender and a few other items along. This particular guitar she taught with, and she had her business in probably 45, 50 years of teaching string instruments.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And my father and his three brothers all played, and as kids, we used to run through the parlor and listen to them all sitting around. You know, it was a great time.
APPRAISER: It's a Fender Telecaster. These are commonly called Black Guard Teles, because they made them with a black pick guard for the first few years. This one's from 1953. In late '54, they changed to the white pick guard rather than the black. The serial number is under the bridge cover. This is commonly called an ashtray because it kind of looks like an ashtray when you take it off.
GUEST: Uh-huh. Is this color, which I've seen others, but they're always darker in color and different types of...
APPRAISER: This was the only color they made at this time.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: Yeah, this was the original Telecaster color, that kind of see-through blonde.
GUEST: I'll be darned.
APPRAISER: It's really rare to see the original hard shell case in this condition. This is just pressed fiber board, and if it gets any humidity at all, it just starts to fall apart. And then also, the Fender Deluxe amplifier that she probably bought around the same time.
GUEST: We have receipts and paperwork from her when she purchased this particular guitar and amplifier, and I believe it was $225. I guess that was quite a sum for her as far as her teaching and stuff, but she took very good care of it.
APPRAISER: Well, the early Telecasters like this are quite valuable today, and especially when they have an original hard shell case, and then the whole package with the amplifier makes it even more enticing. So the guitar alone, even if it didn't have its original case or amplifier, would probably have a retail value in a specialty shop of $25,000. Now, the case adds a lot to that. The case alone is worth $2,500 because they almost never survive.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: The amplifier, if being sold separately, is probably in that $2,500 range.
GUEST: Excellent.
APPRAISER: $2,500 is a pretty good estimate for that.
GUEST: Wow, that's amazing.
APPRAISER: And then you put the guitar and the case and the amplifier together, and you probably have a package that could sell for at least $30,000 in today's market.
GUEST: Oh, my word. I would have never... It's definitely going to move out of the closet somewhere a little bit more important now. I know for sure it's going to move up the family line a lot. I'm shocked. I never had any clue. To just know what I've got now just makes it that much nicer. Thank you, Grandma. Never expected this. It's wonderful.
