The raising of lazarus serial numbers#

He did remember the guitar and who pawned it: a fellow named Ludlow Miller, who brought it in about 28 years ago. To my delight, Jeff called me back in just a few minutes. I explained why I was calling, and as a courtesy they promised to give my number to Jeff. I called the number, but the person who answered said he was the new owner and that Jeff McCurry, the previous proprietor, was no longer affiliated with the store. Google Maps showed Red Barn Pawn in the same location, with a photo on the front that I recognized as the former store. I looked up pawnshops in McAlester, Oklahoma, but couldn’t find a listing for Old Town Pawn. It was time to do a little detective work on my own.

The raising of lazarus serial numbers#

I called the renowned Walter Carter in the hope that he might recognize the serial numbers on the potentiometers but struck out there as well. I placed a photo of it on my Facebook page, but even Larry Briggs, a pioneer of the vintage-guitar trade, remained silent. I asked for any experts to chime in or correct me if I was mistaken. I photographed the guitar and listed it on as possibly an early prototype, with an $18,000 price tag on it. Perhaps this was a prototype for the Gibson Les Paul. Had I found a missing link? It was a thin-bodied ES-350, as I best could figure, but it still had the 25 1/2–inch scale for the missing fingerboard and nut.

I listed it on as possibly an early prototype, with an $18,000 price tag on it. He did not, however, venture to guess what model guitar it might be. “It looks like red oak to me,” he replied. I emailed a photo of it to my friend Mike McGuire, who had recently retired as head of the Gibson Custom Shop. I couldn’t guess the top wood until I had sanded it a bit. There were three major cracks in the top, along with roughly 12 tiny drilled holes that I could not account for, as well as about seven holes in the butt where a tailpiece could be attached. John explained that he had purchased the instrument about 20 years prior in McAlester, Oklahoma, at middle, and what was left of one strap pin had nearly rusted away. “I don’t know whether to say ‘Thank you’ or ‘Screw you,’” I remarked after a moment. Status Currently Off View Department Prints and Drawings Artist Rembrandt van Rijn Title The Raising of Lazarus: The Larger Plate Origin Holland Date 1627–1637 Medium Etching on paper Dimensions 343 × 235 mm (sheet trimmed within platemark) Credit Line The Charles Deering Collection Reference Number 1927.5124 IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Christ turns his back to the viewer, and as he raises one hand in a ray of blinding light, Lazarus begins to emerge from his grave. In this dramatic, arched composition, both the viewer and the onlookers wait inside the burial cave. The artist produced several versions of this scene from different vantage points. The preeminent Dutch painter and printmaker Rembrandt van Rijn often revisited this important biblical subject, in which Christ foreshadows his own death and resurrection by reviving the dead Lazarus.