ANDREW: I've got a 1963 carbon mandolin.
[mandolin playing] COREY HARRISON: OK.
ANDREW: --with some interesting history behind it.
COREY HARRISON: What history is behind it, here?
ANDREW: It's an instrument that was owned by a member
of Bob Wills's Texas Playboys.
[mandolin playing]
COREY HARRISON: Nice.
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, or Texas Swing Band.
Wow.
I mean, this is really cool, but it's kind of hard to be cool
playing this thing, unless you're, like,
an Oompa-Loompa or something. [laughter]
[mandolin playing]
ANDREW: You don't have the guys we have today
without the foundation that Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
set for us.
This was music where nobody sat down, and the place was packed.
We'll just see if these guys are willing to come
to the plate and play ball.
COREY HARRISON: Now, Texas Swing.
There's people playing, you know,
washboards, and jugs, and-- - Everything.
You name It.
COREY HARRISON: You know, somewhere
between Hank Williams and Elvis, there had to be
something in the middle there. ANDREW: Right.
And that's Texas Swing.
COREY HARRISON: I mean, it's really cool.
The leather work on it's really good.
ANDREW: The gentleman this belonged to,
he was known as Fiddlin' Ed.
And shortly after he purchased it,
had this leather wrap done up.
COREY HARRISON: Pretty impressive.
Mandolins have been used in country music for as long
as the genre has been around.
Collectors will pay big money for stuff like this
if it's really connected to the Texas Playboys.
How much do you want for it?
Uh, you know, I think it's probably
worth anywhere from 3 to 5.
- Thousand? - Thousand.
COREY HARRISON: OK.
Now, do you get anything backin' your story up, here?
ANDREW: I do.
This is an affidavit that I had the last owner
fill out and sign.
COREY HARRISON: All right.
Owned by Ed Whittaker, Texas Playboy.
Played with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
Unfortunately, this does nothing for me.
Why would you say that?
This isn't concrete enough for me to sell that on.
This is notarized. COREY HARRISON: OK.
[inaudible]
ANDREW: This is a gentleman saying, this is indeed fact.
[rock music playing]
COREY HARRISON: Let me call a buddy of mine
down here to come check this out.
He'll help me be able to back up the story
and let me know what this adds to it, all right?
Yeah, all right. Let's get him in here.
COREY HARRISON: I'll be right back.
This is it, man.
EXPERT: Pretty awesome.
So what did you need to know?
COREY HARRISON: So it was one of the members
in the band the Texas Playboys, that played with Bob Wills.
EXPERT: Oh, cool. Cool.
Well, you know, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.
That's kind of the guys who popularized
the whole Texas Swing thing.
These were the big bands from the southern parts
of the United States.
And, you know, the Texas Playboys
would come into town, and whatever dance hall
they were playing was packed.
They called it Texas Swing for a reason.
When these guys played, everybody danced.
COREY HARRISON: So in terms of mandolins,
where does this stack up?
The leather wrap on it's pretty rad.
This was a really big popular thing in the country scene.
It morphed over into rock and roll.
You see Elvis Presley with his Martin,
and the whole top of it's wrapped in leather.
So, you know, that's actually pretty cool
that this is on there.
Who did that?
ANDREW: Whittaker actually did that.
The original owner, Ed Whittaker.
You have any paperwork or anything?
I-- I do.
I had the owner, a gentleman by the name of RJ Cannon,
compile his story.
This was willed to him by--
By.
Ed Whittaker.
EXPERT: Do you have any pictures of any of the guys
in the Playboys playin' it?
I-- I don't.
EXPERT: In the retail end of things, pictures--
ANDREW: Right.
EXPERT: --usually help things.
ANDREW: That's why I had him notarize this.
And-- and that helps.
COREY HARRISON: So how do you feel as it sits, this package?
EXPERT: This mandolin by itself is a $1,500, $1,600 mandolin.
With the provenance and the Playboys tie
and all that kind of stuff, it's probably--
[SUSPENSFUL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC STING]
You know, three to four grand.
[rock music playing]
COREY HARRISON: All right. Well, I gotcha.
Appreciate it, my man.
EXPERT: There's gonna be that guy
that the affidavit is good enough for,
and that's a Bob Wills fan.
With all that being said, I'm willing to offer
you two grand for it.
[rock music playing]
You know, we both know that's not the best you can do.
[rock music playing]
Uh, it's pretty damn close, buddy.
I'm confident I can sell it for around three grand,
and I'm taking all the risk.
Two grand's what I'm gonna do. - Tell you what.
Meet me in the middle at 25 and we've got a deal.
I'm not gonna do it.
[SUSPENSFUL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC STING]
I'll go $2,100 if it makes you feel better.
How about 21 without the case, 22 since that's
$100 flight case?
- All right, you got a deal. - All right.
[instrumental music playing] - All right.
Meet me over there. We'll do some paperwork, buddy.
OK.
Yeah, you know, 2,200 is fair, quite frankly.
I thought they were going to offer me around $1,000.
So you gotta put your poker face on in that case,
and not look overly excited.