It’s because they’re not well known enough. Mossmans were essentially a regional brand, with most of their following in the southern Great Plains states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. There were lots of other players using Mossmans when I was gigging out in Kansas City, but when I moved to Chicago I met precisely one other person who owned a Mossman, and he was a hard core bluegrass guy. (He also liked my Mossman more than his, and tried to buy mine off me...)
Anyway, there are too many Mossman guitars in circulation to be considered rare, but they’re not well known enough to command much interest. There’s a similar situation with Tacoma guitars, but even more so: I occasionally see Tacoma guitars listed for under $300 on Craigslist. All Tacoma guitars have solid wood tops and the later ones are all-solid wood, but they sell for less money than it would take to buy the materials to build them.
That’s the same dynamic as what’s happened with Mossmans. The prices on them have actually gone up in recent years, but they’re never going to sell for the same price as similar Martins.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller
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