Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

This is my grandfather's. He bought it in the '30s and taught himself how to play. And, uh, I can remember as a kid, uh... everybody sitting around watching him play. And he was so good, he could play with his eyes closed. And it was passed onto my father and then I inherited after that. Uh, 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'd be called a TB-11. Plectrum banjo, which was a long-necked flourishing, that was the PB-11. MB-11 was the mandolin banjo. And this is the regular banjo, the RB-11, the 5-string. 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 banjos 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 the original pearloid-- or we call it mother-of-toilet-seat fingerboard-- intact with all the designs, and wonderful pearloid resonator, and blue paint.

GUEST

And that's blue?

APPRAISER

They made them in black and in blue. 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 tuners, original five-string peg, original tailpiece. I think the original bridge. Original skin head. And you can see here there's the original tuners with the "Gibson" and the original truss-rod cover in... 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 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

You going to start to play banjo again?

GUEST

I sure will.

APPRAISER

You want to hear a little bit of what it sounds like?

GUEST

Oh, I'd love to, yeah.

APPRAISER

(playing bluegrass tune)

GUEST

Excellent.