Mystery Parlor

[John Smeck]

I'm trying to get some info on this old parlor guitar.

I've tried searches for George Stewart and haven't been able to turn anything up. Is he the same Stewart as SS Stewart?

The reason I'm looking into it is to try to find an estimated value of the guitar and its original case.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JSmeck 

[Paul Verticchio]

http://banjolin.co.uk/banjo/stewarthistory.htm

Google is a wonderful tool.

Gruhn Guitar in Nashville has a fee based appraisal service for value estimations. They're highly recommended.

This forum's "value guesses" are a good or as bad as anyone's, but it's not something I'd use to calculate sale prices. 

Best of luck :)

[Ned Knepp]

 Try your Google search again, John. It's not GEORGE Stewart. Look at the stamp, it's GEO. E. Stewart. There isn't a lot out there but there are hits were other people have been looking for information. I've never actually heard of it as a brand but the stamp has me wondering if it a combination of "Geo." Bauer and the "Stewart" name, perhaps as a special brand for a particular dealer. Bauer and Stewart are well known for their cooperation and builders sometimes did weird thing like that.

This is a link to a copy of an old catalog from Geo. Bauer estimated to have been published around 1898. It has images of his mandolin and guitars. Maybe  you can see something there that would help but remember that most of the builders were mimicking one another a lot at that time so it can be hard to determine a brand by how it looks alone.

If it is a Bauer/Stewart, it's probably not  a high end model with no inlays but it appear to have been built with decent materials. It could be worth a fair amount of money IF it is one of theirs. At this point, I wouldn't count on my being correct. The pictures seem to indicate good overall condition and a fairly good quality instrument, with what appears to be the original case. If it were mine, I would check into getting a Gruhn appraisal. Maybe the best thing about a Gruhn appraisal on a guitar like this is that it's not a "known" brand and an appraisal from Gruhn can help with selling it, particularly if it turns out to be rare AND valuable. It will cost you but it may be a good investment.