Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Rick wrote:"Blackie", an otherwise $1,000 guitar, sold for around $1m.

$1000? Was "Blackie" not a 50's Strat?

It's a parts Strat John. Certainly worth more than a grand if Clapton didn't own it.

OK, fair enough - I stand corrected, somewhat. I threw out the $1K as illustration of a point. Maybe it would fetch $2K if Joe Shmuck (e.g. me) owned it. Or who knows, a genuine 50s strat (worn, but all original) might even fetch $25K in today's market. Still > $900K short of Blackie's auction price.

The point I was trying to demonstrate is the significant imputed value of an artist's genuine instrument.

SOLD on Ebay $110,000....

Tidy little profit there...

Yeah, I'm wondering if a partnership was worked out between the pawn shop, Cowtown, and the consigner

marc61 wrote:Yeah, I'm wondering if a partnership was worked out between the pawn shop, Cowtown, and the consigner

You know it. For one thing, Rick did NOT buy the guitar for 90k. If anything, maybe he was given a percentage to essentially give upcoming ebay listing a huge, 8 minute long commercial on broadcast TV. The show and it's producers have been caught 3-4 times making up people, fake names etc, total lies just to get a "closet find" onto the show.

If you work at Cowtown and bring an old Les Paul down off the racks for someone, it's just all in a days work. But if you drive it to the Pawn Stars and say you got it from your grandpa, it becomes award-winning television.