The following Gibson prewar piece is a very nice instrument that compliments it's big brother, the Gibson ES-100. Since the ES-100 was a a cheaper version of the ES-150, this is also a step down budget relative of the ETG/EST-150 of the time. 

As with all historic pieces, it is important to try to preserve any remaining stories that are attached (most of the time, this is difficlut). I contacted the expert himself in Gibson history, Mr. A.R. Duchossoir about factory records. Thankfully he had an answer. In his expert words is the following:

"The two tenor ES-100's from 1938 are listed in factory records as

EST-100, not ETG-100. They were both shipped in December 1938.

- #DGE-5015 on 5th December

- #DGE-5014 on 7th December

(This piece) was delivered to George's Music Store in Shinectady, NY while the other went to Wittich's in Pennsylvania."

He further says that tenor guitars were popular from Gibson until the 1960's, but they were never manufactered in large quantities.

It is always difficult to determine where and how instruments find their way from the past and into our own collections unless there is documentation. I do want to thank Bran from Picker's Supply in Fredericksburg, Virginia who sold this and provided a little more information. It seems Bran purchased a large collection of vintage tenor guitars from the grandson of Skip Freeman. Before this was in the Skip Freeman collection, it did come from another owner in New York. If all of the previous information is compiled, it seems that this particular tenor guitar has spent it's life on the east coast.