A Guitar in a Swedish Farmhouse May Have Been Gene Autry's, Stolen in 1932

A Martin OM-45 guitar found in a Swedish farmhouse may have belonged to the singing cowboy Gene Autry, and may have been stolen from him in 1932, according to Billboard. Only 50 of the model were made in the early 1930s by the Martin guitar company.

The instrument came to light through an inheritance. Owe Jakobsson had received the guitar from his father, Gunnar, who was described as an inventive repairman. Owe died in February 2021, and his daughter Sandra was left in charge of his estate.

While she sold off pieces of the estate, Sandra received a $7,000 offer for the Martin. A modern replica of the OM-45 is worth about $12,000. The original, depending on its condition and history, could be worth six figures, meaning at least $100,000.

The guitar's past was less visible than its price. Sandra took it to a guitar shop in Stockholm for restoration. There, the repairer Leif Lundbäck found the name Gene Autry hidden under black paint. A serial number was revealed when the neck was detached. The neck and bridge also carried amateur modifications, according to the Billboard report.

The paper trail is what links the guitar to Autry. The Martin company holds documentation from several letters Autry wrote in early 1932 that connect him to the instrument. Autry's 1932 tax return, produced by his estate, indicates that a Martin guitar was stolen from him in the autumn, roughly nine months after that correspondence with the company.

Autry was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and he built his fame on radio, records and films as a singing cowboy. His widow, Jackie Autry, believes the guitar should go back to the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. After being contacted, she offered $20,000 for the instrument. Sandra declined that offer.

Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten has run a four-part series on the investigation into the guitar's authenticity and ownership. The question of how a Martin from a Los Angeles singer's collection ended up in a farmhouse outside Sweden is one the series sets out to answer.

For anyone who has ever found an old instrument in a family attic, the story offers a plain lesson. A scratched name under paint and a serial number under the neck can carry a long history, and that history can change what an object is worth.