GUEST: This is my grandfather's. He bought it in the '30s and taught himself how to play. And I can remember as a kid everybody sitting around watching him play, and he was so good he could play with his eyes closed. And that was passed on to my father, and then I inherited it after that. I tried my hand at it, but wasn't very good, but...
APPRAISER: But you want to get back to it.
GUEST: Absolutely.
APPRAISER: Okay, well, this, so you do know, it's a 1930s banjo made by the Gibson Company. And this is a model RB-11. Now, the 11 style they made in tenor banjo, that would be called a TB-11, a plectrum banjo, which is a long-necked four-string, that was the PB-11.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: MB-11 was the mandolin banjo, and this is the regular banjo, the RB-11, the five-string.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Very rare in this period. This is probably about 1936, '37, something like that. And they made... it's during a period when they made hardly any five-string banjoes at all. The tenor banjo had taken over by about 1925. So by this point, I suppose they may have made only one five-string banjo for every 50 tenors.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: That few five-strings. Really, really astounding to see one, especially to see one in this kind of original condition with all of the original pearloid—(laughing) We call it "mother of toilet seat" fingerboard-- intact, with all the designs. And wonderful pearloid resonator.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And blue paint.
GUEST: And that's blue?
APPRAISER: They made them in black and in blue. Yeah, that is blue, dark blue. A lot of it's worn off, but it's unbelievably intact and original, no one's done anything to it. Original five-string peg. Original tail piece. I think the original bridge.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Original skin head. And you can see here, there's the original tuners with the Gibson, and the original truss rod cover, also in pearloid. I think I've only seen perhaps two or three original RB-11 five-strings in my life. And I've been doing this a very long time. Have you any sense at all of what this is worth?
GUEST: I wouldn't even guess, I have no idea.
APPRAISER: Well, I wouldn't have said this even a couple of years ago, but with the popularity of bluegrass and the five-string banjo coming back, especially after some recent movies and tours of great musicians, I'd say at least $5,000.
GUEST: My goodness.
APPRAISER: Perhaps $5,500, in that range. That surprise you?
GUEST: Yes, it does. It does.
APPRAISER: Going to start to play banjo again?
GUEST: (laughing) Yes. I sure will.
APPRAISER: You want to hear a little what it sounds like?
GUEST: Oh, I'd love to, yeah.
APPRAISER: (playing a tune)
GUEST: Excellent.
