Curious if anyone here got this "1920's Banjo Ukulele from Hawaii" on eBay...

ukukimmy

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Curious if anyone here got this "1920's Banjo Ukulele from Hawaii" on eBay...

I was interested in it as I really liked the artwork on the head. I asked the seller a few questions including how he knew the banjo uke was from the 20s. He said it was due to a serial number on it. When I asked him for the serial number he never replied back. Can anyone here clue me in? I am curious about the one that got away...:p

http://tinyurl.com/3dl5gxo

Thanks in advance!
 
Aloha Ukukimmy,
I saw that banjo too and it caught my eye as well.....some seller either get worried giving out that type of info..or he didn't have the time or cared...sorry it happened to you with no response..
I hope you find the banjo of your dreams...and let us know what you get...Happy Strummings...MM Stan BTW nice ukes and bikes...wow wee..
 
Brutha Stan is correct about the serial number "caution". Don't hold that against any seller to withhold at least the last few digits on a serial number. It is not uncommon for someone to ask for a serial number, then report it stolen. If someone reports a guitar stolen, the 1st thing they will be asked is "do you have the serial number". If they have that to give the police, that is their proof of ownership. I have heard many horror stories on guitars lost in just that way. One poor soul on my Les Paul forum posted a photo of the back of his headstock which included the serial number. It was a vintage Gibson Les Paul worth upwards of $10,000. He was the original owner of the guitar (or his family was anyway). Some thief apparently got hold of that picture. Reported the guitar stolen and to the real owners suprise the police ended up on his doorstep, took the Les Paul, and arrested him. He got out of jail, and didn't get his Les Paul back for almost a year. The police said the ONLY reason he got it back was because he was lucky and his family kept the original receipts, vintage photgraphs of his family holding or playing the guitar, and otherwise overwhelming proof that the guitar was in his family's possession for many years. But the original sales receipt from the 1960s, with the guitars serial number on it is what saved his Les Paul. The police said if it wasn't for that, he would have lost the guitar and it would have went to the guy that produced the serial number in the theift claim.

Point is. Guard any serial number because that is not only documenting the standing of the instrument and other info. It IS your proof of ownership.

Just sayin..
 
Wow, didn't realize the issue with serial nos. I was just trying to figure out what make/model it might have been, history on it, etc. I didn't really want/need it. It caught my eye and I thought it was cool looking. I'm too new at this whole thing to know what I really want yet. All I know is that if <strike> when this UAS hits me...big ruh roh!!! :eek:
 
Ukukimmy -

It's an Oscar Schmidt uke from the late 20's/early 30's. This was usually sold by them as a "Sovereign", but also as "Stella" and additionally built unlebeled by Schmidt for music and department stores - which is what you see there. It's a nice one, but not uncommon or expensive, and it comes up frequently. There was another one just like it that moved at the end of March on eBay. Just save the picture and keep your eyes peeled; one just like it will come up again.

By the way, that Oscar Schmidt company is not connected with the Washburn-Oscar Schmidts you see today; the company went out of business in the late 30's and Washburn simply picked up the name.
 
many times owners will give ya at least the first few digits of a serial number, because those generally contain the build date, what plant (assuming a manufactured one) and model number. The last few numbers are typically the sequencial unique number so most that post it, post the number printed, or stamped on the instrument with those last few digits blurred out. Someone of ill intensions can not do anything with the first few numbers because those are not unique to that specific instrument. So, an owner should have no issues with giving you those, but then again, some are paranoid of fraud and won't give out any of the digits publicly.
 
Hm. That's good to know about serial numbers. I never would have thought twice to give out that info...especially if I was selling it.

There are too many smart d-bags in the world.
 
That's all true, re: serial numbers, but by the way - this seller is fudging that date/serial number information.

Schmidt instruments sometimes have batch numbers, but the factory did not use serial numbers. Batch numbers usually start with 30, and then there's a code that follows, which - surprise! - they did not keep a lasting record of. Since the numbers are not sequential, you can't tell the age of Stella/Schmidt/Sovereign/Aristo from the number.

We know that a lot of eBay sellers have no idea what they're selling, some will admit that flat out, others will try to do a "sales job." He initially said it was Hawaiian, and it's really from Jersey City, about as "not Hawaiian" as you can get. I advised him to change that in the listing, but hey, he didn't.

No biggie! I doubt anyone watching believed it, anyway. :D
 
We know that a lot of eBay sellers have no idea what they're selling, some will admit that flat out,

There are some that admit it and that's fine, many don't have a clue because it was a barn or closet find. But, I have found that some claim they know nothing about the item, then go on to insinuate it's rareity or other valuable info. I find they openly play the ignorance card so they can't be held responsible that it isn't as they insinuated it was. All they have to in a claim is that "I said I wasn't an expert, and didn't know allot about those things..." That is their out so they don't have to support their insinuated claims.

Just saying.. Bottom line is know what you are buying, and how to spot tell tale signs in the pictures, or ask for pictures that will give you those clues, or know what questions to ask that they can say for sure of.
 
There are some that admit it and that's fine, many don't have a clue because it was a barn or closet find. But, I have found that some claim they know nothing about the item, then go on to insinuate it's rareity or other valuable info. I find they openly play the ignorance card so they can't be held responsible that it isn't as they insinuated it was. All they have to in a claim is that "I said I wasn't an expert, and didn't know allot about those things..." That is their out so they don't have to support their insinuated claims.

Just saying.. Bottom line is know what you are buying, and how to spot tell tale signs in the pictures, or ask for pictures that will give you those clues, or know what questions to ask that they can say for sure of.

Exactly. Caveat emptor, and do your research so you aren't sold a supposed "rare" uke at an inflated price.
 
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