'Antiques Roadshow' guest beams with joy after expert revealed the value of her dad's old guitar
"Antiques Roadshow" isn't just a platform for selling vintage items, but it's also a place where items in the family, that are priceless due to memories attached to them, also get a price tag. One such heirloom was a white Fender Stratocaster guitar that a guest walked in with. The owner of the item, who shared that it ended up with her family by a fluke, was beaming with joy by the end as the show's expert Peter Shaw valued the item at a whopping $48,000.
In the episode, the guest shared the interesting story of how her father passed the guitar on to her. "This was given to my father for his 11th birthday in October of 1962. I know that it's a left-handed Fender Stratocaster. I know that it was special-ordered, however, not by my grandfather, who bought it for him, but by somebody else who didn't have the money to pay for it. And so it was available just sort of on a fluke. And that's about all I know," she told Shaw. The guest also had pictures of her father posing with the guitar.
Shaw then took over to explain why the guitar was significant, despite its provenance. "Well, this is a Fender Stratocaster. It was so popular at that time. All the great rock bands of the time, the Ventures, the Beach Boys, they all used this guitar," he explained. Shaw further added that what made the guitar special was that it was a left-handed model, and it had an interesting fingerboard. "It's what we call a slab fingerboard. Later in the year, they changed to a different style of fingerboard. Makes it a little more exceptional," Shaw noted.
He further examined the guitar to check for the serial number and revealed that the item was made in 1962. To further verify its authenticity, the owner also had the brochure, which featured the item as a 1962 model with a price tag of just $289.
However, Shaw estimated that the item may have cost a bit more as it had some custom elements. "Now, this is what we call a custom-ordered instrument in that the color of the instrument, this Olympic white, was a custom color; it was a special order. And the left-handed would have been a special order," he noted. He further added that the guitar was in near-perfect condition, which also added to its value. "There's very little wear on the instrument at all. This was a very light guitar. Made it very easy to play. These instruments are highly desirable today because of the way they play and the history behind them," Shaw explained.
He also noted that since it was a left-handed model, it may be a little harder to sell. Nevertheless, Shaw said that he had consulted with his colleagues and they had arrived at a number. "In this preservation, and you have the original case and everything, we would put a value at retail of $48,000 on it," Shaw revealed. This left the guest overjoyed as she couldn't stop smiling and chuckling. "Are you serious?" she asked the expert while trying to compose herself.
The appraiser assured her that he was serious and confident of the value. "I'm as excited as you are. It's a great guitar and it's just really fun to see it," Shaw told her. "My dad is going to be very surprised. Maybe I'll sell it back to him," the guest joked in the end.
