To all who may be interested:

I contacted Mr. Dick Boak of C.F. Martin & Co. concerning the existence and
possible whereabouts of the eledged instrument of Mark Twain.  He asked me
to post this message to the Forum in the hopes that the guitar's
authenticity could be verified. Since I am not qualified for such a task, I
hope someone can follow up on the request.

Thanks
angie
>
>I just returned from a trade show in Frankfurt, Germany to receive your
>Email concerning the apparent Mark Twain Martin guitar. The gentleman who
>owns this guitar is Hank Risan. He is a guitar collector in California. His
>phone number is (408) 427-1429. He has indicated that the instrument is
>from the estate of John Hancock and that he has some documentation (in the
>form of diaries) about the instrument. Accordingto Mr. Risan, the guitar
>was apparently purchased by Mark Twain in 1861, though Mr. Risan says its
>probable date of manufacture was 1834. The guitar received some publicity
>in a very recent issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, a publication of The
>String Letter Press in San Anselmo, CA. Naturally we are very excited to
>hear stories like this about our guitars, but we have no way to verify the
>information. I would greatly appreciate any feedback your group can lend
>regarding this instrument. Thanks... dick boak; Director of Advertising &
>Artist Relations, The Martin Guitar Company, Nazareth, PA 18064

Dick can also be contacted at [log in to unmask]