'Antiques Roadshow' guest in disbelief after expert tells him value of his iconic guitar from the '50s

Guitars have been around for well over a century now and are one of the most widely used musical instruments in the world. As time has passed, older models have become rare vintage collectibles fetching high valuations on platforms such as "Antiques Roadshow" and "Pawn Stars." One of those was a guitar made in the early 1940s that was featured on an episode of “Antiques Roadshow.”

The instrument was a 1941 C.F. Martin 000-42, a family heirloom that boasts a rich history. The guitar originally belonged to Cowboy Slim, a musician who played in the ‘50s on the radio. He had acquired the instrument in 1952 for $50, which wasn’t too expensive even back then. When he passed away in 1989, he left the guitar with his great-nephew who has been taking care of it.

At the time of production, C.F. Martin (founded in 1833) was still producing a good number of guitars but World War II brought production to a halt as the raw materials were diverted towards the war effort. At the time, it was considered a poor man’s pearl guitar due to its low price as per The Sun. However, it still has several impressive features.

Its pearl inlay gave the guitar an elegant look. Its back and sides were made with Brazilian rosewood, a sought-after type of rare wood with top-notch tonal qualities. It’s a shame to think that the world would have forgotten about this beautiful model had it not been for the legendary musician Eric Clapton who used the 000-42 on one of his unplugged records.

In today’s world, this particular guitar would fetch a pretty penny. It’s essentially an antique and for collectors of musical instruments, an absolute treat. According to the antique expert, that particular guitar could fetch somewhere between $65,000 and $75,000. Considering that it was first bought for $50, that sure is one hell of an appraisal.

It’s not just the classic acoustic guitar models that get a lot of love in today’s world. The electric guitars do as well, especially if it is one of the first left-handed guitars ever made. The classic Fender Telecaster was brought to the show by a man who claimed to be the son of one of the guitarists of the Dixie Ramblers. They were a country band founded in the late 1920s as per Discogs.

Antique expert, Lawrence Cavalieri had a hard time believing that the guitar was one from the 1950s considering that it was left-handed. Fender did not build many of those models at the time. It was the screws on the black pick-guard that convinced him that it was indeed a guitar built during that time. Open further investigation, it was revealed that the guitar was made in 1951.

“Left-handed…this maybe the first one,” he said. That truly is something special considering that it is a Fender product. When the time came for appraisal, the expert said that he would value it at $30,000 to $35,000.