It's amazing what you can get if you're lucky.

I bought a 1961 Gibson SG/Les Paul Custom for œ400 (US$700 approx). I've had it authenticated, and valued for insurance at œ2500.

Only 315 of these were made in this, its' first, year of production.

There is even a possibility that it is the prototype. And to top it all off, it's in mint condition.

All you need is someone who was interested in playing guitar back then, but never really got into it and put their brand new guitar into a cupboard to rot for thirty years, with no knowledge of its potential as a collectors piece.

When thirty years has passed, the cupboard is "cleaned out" and the guitar, unused, is sold for a ridiculously low price to the first bidder.

My advice is to discover the model name, find the serial number, and on the strength of that work out when it was built and therefore how much it could be worth as a collectors piece.

To do this, I bought a Gibson handbook at my local guitar shop. I've forgotten the title, and it's disappeared now anyway, but I'm sure it's not that hard to come by.