Singerland Maybell 5-string banjo - help with pricing?

mynameistrouble

Hi there,

My dad wants to sell one of his banjos, but he has no idea how much he should be asking for it. He says he paid about about £600 but reckons he was probably being taken for a ride. It's all original as far as he is aware (other than bridge and strings), more photos linked below this one:



https://imgur.com/CEGGRVa
https://imgur.com/qnIMUES
https://imgur.com/fLjSdrZ
https://imgur.com/PWzpjcg
https://imgur.com/KijdlAl
https://imgur.com/LjwTPjN
https://imgur.com/jRXePo3
https://imgur.com/UfLTY4e

I don't know the first thing about banjos, so any information would be much appreciated!

Stuckfast

I don't know much about banjos either but it's certainly possible that a Slingerland May Bell would be worth £600 or more. I just saw one on Reverb that seems to have sold for the thick end of a grand. The ones that go cheap are usually tenor banjos or banjo-ukuleles which are much less valuable, and yours is a proper 5-string banjo.

It would be worth researching the history of that model and trying to date it, though -- it may be that some periods are much more sought-after than others.