Andy Chase

Given enough time, everyday objects accrue value to the point where they must be sealed in a display case, never to be used for their original purpose again; old silver, old china, old furniture... you see them on programs like Antique Road Show, gasp in amazement when their worth is revealed, then gasp in horror when you hear about how they've just been kicking around in the corner of somebody's musty basement for generations. Then you wonder whether the owner will ever really be able to enjoy the thing again, now knowing that their favorite hand-me-down dresser is worth $10,000.

One of the many things I've always liked about musical instruments is that they often continue to be used for their original purpose long, long after many other things made at the same time have been enshrined in antique collections. Violins jump to mind first, but there are also plenty of banjos from the famed makers of the late 19th and early 20th century that are still out there.

I came across a pair of Cole's Eclipse banjos (circa 1895) at an antique shop today. They were being sold only as a pair and at a cost well beyond anything I could afford, but it was lovely to see them. They are in need of some attention, but you can tell that there's still a lot of music to be made on them once new heads, a few new tension hooks, and new strings are applied.

The thing I wonder about most when looking at old instruments is what songs have been played on them, and how many people have memories of them; not only their former owners, but friends and family lucky enough to have heard the instrument played. I've never had an opportunity to play an instrument this old, but it must be a wonderful connection to the past.

(The photo was taken from an Ebay auction for a Cole's Eclipse with the Man in the Moon inlay exactly like the ones I saw today; I posted it on my own server so as not to steal bandwidth from chinasyndrome.net, who I assume took the photo originally. The auction finished at $2,078.98.)