Gibson historians, have you ever seen this type of serial number over the serial number on a 40s Archtop?

[Lovies Guitars]

Hi all, this guitar came from the grandson of the original owner. He claimed to have never sold it and was kept in his possession since purchased new. It has a funny looking serial number placed over the serial spot on the label. L 373. This is too short and not even a corresponding serial number in terms of others. Is this a special order, promo guitar, or anything in the like? Any help is greatly appreciate, thank you for your time if you respond. 
 

Derick

Lovies Guitars 

[Tim B]

Here is a link that will show you a Gibson arch top information.  Thats all that I have.

http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson2.html#l4

 

 

[Dave F]

Looks like some one taped over the serial number and just wrote that. It’s not the same hand writing as the rest of the label. 

[Dave F]

From what I read, the oval white label was 1947-1955 and all numbers were preceded by the letter A. 

[j45nick]

That looks exactly like my 1947 L-7.

It had the same label, but where this one has the tape over the spot where the serial number should be, mine had a hand-written A-prefix serial number, I believe it was A-235, which placed it in about May of 1947. The serial number here should be around June 1947 here, but should have an A prefix rather than L. 

It almost looks like you can read the printed label through that paper tape. You might take a powerful penlight from different angles and see if you can read what might be beneath the tape, or maybe even try  a blacklight.

This would be on the cusp of the change from the inlaid script logo (which mine had) to the inlaid block logo, which I believe came a few months later in 1947.

That pickguard looks original, and it also looks like it may be starting to out-gas next to the fretboard where a small celluloid block is glued on the underside of the pickguard, allowing the guard to be screwed into the side of the neck at that point.

You might pull that off and check it before it starts to damage the adjacent finish and metal parts. It's nice to be all-original, but it's even nicer not to have damage from a deteriorating celluloid pickguard.

[slimt]

That could of been a lot number for auction guitar.  

[j45nick]

On 4/12/2020 at 10:18 PM, slimt said:

That could of been a lot number for auction guitar.  

Could be.

If it were mine, I would be sorely tempted to try to tease that little piece of tape off in one piece to see if there is a hand-written serial number beneath it. Old glue is sometimes brittle enough to do that. If you get it off intact, you can always glue it back in place if you find there is no number underneath it.

The actual printing on the label "bleeds" through this tape, so I go back to the strong light suggestion in case that is good enough to see what is beneath the tape.

[slimt]

10 minutes ago, j45nick said:

Could be.

If it were mine, I would be sorely tempted to try to tease that little piece of tape off in one piece to see if there is a hand-written serial number beneath it. Old glue is sometimes brittle enough to do that. If you get it off intact, you can always glue it back in place if you find there is no number underneath it.

The actual printing on the label "bleeds" through this tape, so I go back to the strong light suggestion in case that is good enough to see what is beneath the tape.

I agree.  The actual number is underneath.  
I would get a luthier to remove it if it was mine.  my luck I would make it worse 
I have a couple L7s but the script style with the double vase handle inlays on the headstocks.  There nice guitars.