I feel the need to reveal more of the details about how this incredible instrument found it's way into my hands. It's a story that only fellow guitarists on a forum like this can understand and appreciate.
The more I look at it, I realize that this guitar is a
tour de force display of the luthier's art. I can't believe I actually own this thing, and I'm astonished at how little I paid for it. It is such a thing of beauty, it plays indescribably well, and the tone is heavenly.
When I walked into the shop where I purchased the Heritage one of the employees immediately asked, "Can you look at a guitar for us?" At that same moment I had already spotted the Heritage hanging on the wall and been transfixed by it's striking good looks. The owner piped in that he wanted my opinion on whether it was real or not, as he had some doubts.
My immediate thought was, "Who fakes a Heritage?" I mean, apart from us guitar players, the brand is largely unknown when compared with Gibson. If somebody had the ability, and the motive was profit, and they were going to spend the time and effort to make such an incredible copy, then they would surely be better off making fakes of a Gibson L-5, for which there is a greater market, and which consequently command significantly higher prices.
After picking it up and looking it over, and taking the aforementioned points into consideration, I pronounced that it was without a doubt real. It had some age and authentic play wear on it, though it was otherwise in excellent condition. There was flaking of the gold on the Grover Imperial tuners, the binding along the fretboard had hairline cracks where the frets and position markers were, and the faceplate of the headstock was scuffed. All normal things you see on a guitar of this type of handmade manufacture, which had clearly been played, and which one would pay Gibson many thousands of dollars for as "Murphy Aging."
I must admit that, not being knowledgeable about the Heritage brand, I didn't know exactly what model it was. There didn't seem to be any identifying marks regarding that. However, a quick look online revealed that
any Heritage archtop was selling for double or triple the price of this one. As I said in my OP, I did not leave the house that morning looking to buy a premium archtop guitar. While I was completely blown away by the beauty and craftsmanship of this Heritage, I couldn't immediately wrap my mind around buying it. So I walked away.
When I got home I did some intense research and realized that the guitar I had seen was in fact a Golden Eagle, which is the flagship of the Heritage line. The reason why I didn't initially recognize what the guitar was was because . . .
1) There was a missing placard that is supposed to be affixed to the tailpiece and which reads "GOLDEN EAGLE."
2) The guitar was separated from its case, which on a high end guitar like this would typically contain literature that identified the model, the serial number, and verified its authenticity. I had asked several times if they were sure there was no case, as it seemed inconceivable that such a premium and delicate guitar was bereft of its hard case (that it was seemed indicative of either poor stewardship, ignorance, or shenanigans). The shop repeatedly confirmed that the case did not come in with the guitar.
That these two things were missing, the placard and the case, were a double edged sword for me.
On the one hand, it would obviously be nice to have them.
On the other hand, the fact that they were not there left the seller, who was not a guitar expert, in doubt about the exact model of the guitar, its general authenticity, and its value. This guy is a businessman that pays cash for stuff and then sells it for more. All he cared about was that he made his profit. For these reasons he had it priced ridiculously below the true value of the instrument.
Once all of this dawned on me I hurried back to the shop and immediately purchased the guitar. That, in a nutshell, is how I came into ownership of this Heritage Golden Eagle for a stupid low price.
I would bet that the missing placard is in the Golden Eagle's mated case, wherever that may be. How or why did they become separated? Unknown. I can't imagine that the person who brought the Heritage in was a guitar player. They couldn't have been. Think about it, they took only half of what I paid for this guitar from the shop, which is just insane! They waked away from thousands of dollars of value. They too, like the shop owner, did not know what they had.
Below is a Heritage Golden Eagle that sold on Ebay last week, asking price $8300. It is the exact same year as mine and was originally purchased at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. It has the Golden Eagle tailpiece placard that is missing on mine, along with the original case and what looks like some documentation. Our pick guards are different, but I like mine better.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/314672744220?chn=ps
