GUEST: Well, in 1936, I was nine years old, and my father played a ukulele, and I liked it, so he surprised me on my birthday with this uke. And I'm 90 years old now, so it's 81 years old.
APPRAISER: Do you still play it?
GUEST: Not-- I haven't in a long time, but I used to play it with him, and once in a while I pick it up and tune it.
APPRAISER: Well, this is a Martin. This is what we call a Style O ukulele.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And it must have been brand-new when it was purchased for you. It was brand-new. It's in perfect condition.
GUEST: Good.
APPRAISER: You've certainly taken very good care of it. This was Martin's lowest level of the uke-- they had different models.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And really, the difference in the models were, the next model up would have a fancy binding around it.
GUEST: Oh, yes, yes.
APPRAISER: And then some of the others would have just more and more inlays, details, and then the top ones would have been made out of koa wood. The price of ukuleles fluctuates a little bit, goes up and down, but it's in nice condition, original case. This particular model would have a retail value today around $600.
GUEST: Amazing. (laughing) Amazing. That's wonderful.
