Mark Twain 1835 Martin Guitar Valued at 15 Million
News SANTA CRUZ, Calif., April 7 /PRNewswire/ — The pioneering American spirit
has always romanticized the traveling singer, the wandering poet, and the
musician whose home is the road. It is a lesser known fact that Mark Twain, long before the quieter years of white hair and linen suits, was one of the original bohemians of this land. Like his archetypically American protagonist
Huck Finn, Twain traveled far and often, accompanied only by ink, paper, and
an 1835 Martin guitar. Though his writings are invaluable, Twain’s Martin is
definitively valued at over $15 million.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050407/SFTH069 )
The guitar was acquired by world-renowned guitar collector Hank Risan in the mid-nineties. Part of the John Hancock III guitar collection, Risan
purchased the instrument replete with its original coffin case and an
authentic shipping label dated 1866. “It’s one of the best-sounding guitars
I’ve ever played. It still retains its original finish and everything is
original to the guitar, except the bridge, which was made in 1850 or 1860.
The guitar has a great provenance,” Hank Risan explained to Noah Adams on NPR’s Lost and Found Sound.
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