# Mark Twain's 1835 Martin - $15 million!



## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

Interesting story...

http://www.guitarsite.com/news/acou...ns-1835-Martin-Guitar-Valued-Over-15-million/


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Cool ...didn't know that he played


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

Be even cooler if there were some recordings available. Also not sure how the guitar warrants the $15m price tag.


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

I may have missed something but the 15 million appears to be some sort of "valuation". Nobody actually _paid_ that much for it. (And if it happens, I bet it will be inherited money.)


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

it cant really be authentigated as belonging to him as he never signed anything as mark twain in that period, so its nothing more then a very nice example of a very old Martin that may sound okay and may not. without any real proof they cant begin to get that kind of money and even if they did they would need pics and such. ship


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

You couldn't put steel strings on it 


Ship of fools said:


> it cant really be authentigated as belonging to him as he never signed anything as mark twain in that period, so its nothing more then a very nice example of a very old Martin that may sound okay and may not. without any real proof they cant begin to get that kind of money and even if they did they would need pics and such. ship


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

It's says it was authenticated with risan and uc Berkeley. He also signed the poem Mr. Mark Twain .


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

From reading the article I figure there's a damned good chance it was his guitar. If he bought it in 1861 and kept it until just before his death, he had it when he wrote 'Advice to Little Girls' and the story about the frog, among others. His original stories were submitted under the name Mark Twain and signed that way.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

pattste said:


> I may have missed something but the 15 million appears to be some sort of "valuation". Nobody actually _paid_ that much for it. (And if it happens, I bet it will be inherited money.)


If it does get sold there's a good chance a museum would buy it. Maybe the one in Hannibal.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

yep I read what it said but that doesnt make it so it is true. unless there is something more from a reputable authentigator there is no way to tie it back to mark twain so it becomes nothing more then a good story


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Ship of fools said:


> yep I read what it said but that doesnt make it so it is true. unless there is something more from a reputable authentigator there is no way to tie it back to mark twain so it becomes nothing more then a good story


"On the Martin's coffin case was a shipping label bearing his nom de plume and destination written in his own hand: "Mr. M. Twain, New York." In 1997, document experts working for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Engraving Printing Bureau of the U.S. Treasury authenticated the shipping label."
I figure the guitar is well authenticated. As far as there being pictures, there might be. At that time it was basically glass negatives and tintypes with film coming along in the late 1800s and early 1900s. That being said, the newspapers in that time and in the area Mark Twain was only printed engravings if they printed any sort of picture.


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