Bill Monroe’s 1923 Lloyd Loar Gibson F-5 Mandolin
“The most famous mandolin ever played,” Bill Monroe’s 1923 Gibson F-5 Mandolin is valued at a whopping $1.125 million. That’s because one of the most famous American musicians ever used it for decades; its scratched and tattered surface adding to the classic sound. The instrument endured a lot, including getting smashed with a fire poker and being rebuilt out of the more than 500 fragments. Monroe also gouged out the “Gibson” name plate with a pocket knife after one particularly bad day. Amazingly, the instrument’s eventual owner Robert McLean donated the million-dollar instrument to the Country Music Hall of Fame.