When I was a kid, my Dad had a National ValPro 88 guitar, a very strange and now very rare guitar.
My Dad always told me "
When I'm too old to lift this guitar, it will be yours." He passed away in 1982, and my sister took possession of everything in his house, all of his tools (he was a jack of all trades, including being an excellent carpenter, electrician, etc.) and my other sister let that happen because she had just got married the year before and had a baby on the way, and my brother was off in space somewhere.
Naturally she didn't even call me to say Dad died. In 1983 I popped in at Christmas and when I heard about all this, I asked her "
Where is Dad's guitar?" Her reply... "
I don't know." I couldn't use any of his tools as I only have basic carpentry skills and know enough about electricity to hot rod guitars but that was about it. But I wanted Dad's guitar.
Later, her son told me she had pawned it for
$100, then never went back for it. He tried to get it for me but was too late, the owner of the pawn shop knew what it was worth and had a buyer lined up for the day he could legally sell it. I didn't say a word to her. I knew that if I did, I would probably go ballistic on her, so I just went home and skipped Christmas with my family.
The place I copied that picture from has that particular guitar for sale for $2,500. But I've seen them listed on the same website for $10,000 before...