Rarest Sax on eBay this Week

pete

pete

Brassica Oleracea
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Many years ago, I started a legendary thread on SOTW: the most ridiculous saxophone ad that you've seen in a particular week posted on eBay. I think it went to 50 or 60 pages before time constraints prevented me from giving out "awards".

Building on that success, let's try doing something that can be either a) really thought provoking or b) really amusing (which you'll understand when you see my next post).

The other reason why I'd like to do this is because I really am looking for unique saxophones to do some research on. For instance, I'm currently compiling a page or two on York saxophones and I'm sure to do others in the future.

Rules: whatever ad you find (eBay or whatever), you need to copy and paste a link here. I prefer ads with pictures.

You can "vote" for your favorite ad. I'm swayed by public opinion and/or bribes. I also might give awards for both "inappropriate use of the word 'rare'" and one for a horn that really is exceptionally rare. Of course, both could apply to the same horn, too.
 
Ed Svoboda said:
The wishful thinking award of the day should go to this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-1914-Beauf...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19b443e22f
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There is one interesting and one amusing thing about this ad.

The amusing, first: the seller mentions the exact serial number of the horn, writes about 500 words and then says, "... the full serial number will be kept confidential for security purposes." Yah.

The interesting, second: the horn was imported by Holton. Some early imports of Holton horns were from Evette-Schaeffer, which the seller mentions in the ad. Except this isn't an Evette-Schaeffer. The easiest way to tell is that the neck crook wraps the wrong way around. It's also definitely not a Conn: the octave key mechanism is all wrong and it doesn't have Conn keyguards -- and a Conn, Buescher, Martin or HN White wouldn't be an import. It's also not a Couesnon (again, the neck wrap) or Kohlert (octave key mechanism). It's not a Selmer or Pierret (too old). Might be a Dolnet. The serial number would fit for a lot of makes/models.

I'll have to look a bit closer to make a more definitive answer. I think that it's probable that this horn is newer than listed in the ad.

Anyhow, the price is definitely wishful thinking.
 
Anyhow, I think this is more rare.

It's a Bueschner Chu Berry saprano. In silver tone. (Admittedly, the 1912 business card and vintage reeds/reed holder from 1942 are interesting, even though I generally say that people selling used reeds should be shot.)
 
... and, let's get a bit more serious with this horn, a Lyon & Healy Perfect Curved soprano.

This horn confirms for me that Martin didn't make 'em, Courturier did. I'm going to write a page on them in the future and do more research!
 
pete said:
Anyhow, I think this is more rare.

It's a Bueschner Chu Berry saprano. In silver tone. (Admittedly, the 1912 business card and vintage reeds/reed holder from 1942 are interesting, even though I generally say that people selling used reeds should be shot.)
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Wow. The business card is advertising an authentic Friday Night Fish Fry in Harlem! "We're all bums when the wagon comes." Don't give your real name!!! That's what Louis Jordan said.

And I spy an old Vibrator reed in the holder, the reed on the right with the grooves cut into the back. Anybody old enough to remember them? Or at least willing to admit to being old enough?

Julian
 
sideC said:
And I spy an old Vibrator reed in the holder, the reed on the right with the grooves cut into the back. Anybody old enough to remember them? Or at least willing to admit to being old enough?

Julian
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Still have a sealed box on the shelf.
 
Carl H. said:
Still have a sealed box on the shelf.
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Cool! Do they still make them? If not, do you know when they went out of business or were bought out?

My first batch of reeds, back in '62, were Vibrator. I always dug those grooves cut into the back.

Julian
 
By the bye, while the silver-tone Bueschner Chu Berry saprano is obviously the mostest rare horn from last week -- this may be the only one in the entire world -- I try not to award myself :).

By the bye, the bari that Ed posted might actually be the rarest horn (well, sorta). Looks like it might have been made by JW York. That's what my preliminary findings are, at least. All JW York-made saxophones are rare -- but in the sense of "uncommon", not "especially valuable because they're so scarce".
 
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Interesting. I've never seen an R&C bass before. A few things jump out at me about it:

1. It actually looks more nickel plated than silver. You don't see too many shiny silver saxes.
2. It isn't a short wrap. It too is the style that we most commonly associate with the American bass saxes.
3. It's only keyed to low B, so I'm guessing it's rather old. (1920s or prior would be my suspicion.)
 
Off the top of my head, A. Rampone instruments were made from 1912 -- that's when the company started producing saxophones -- to about 1930ish. The "1930ish" date is when they started to be called "Rampone & Cazzani".

Regarding the plating, you could very well be right. However, I had an Evette-Schaeffer curved soprano that was obviously silver plate -- it had black oxidation -- but it was probably the shiniest horn I've ever seen. I've seen a few other European horns like that.

And the pictures in that ad aren't the best :).

I mention a Rampone bari in another thread that's from around the same time as that bass, based on feature-set. It's not only one of the prettiest horns I've seen, even with mild plating wear, it's silver.

I've officially got to write an article on my blog about the R&C horns. Even the modern ones are quite stunning.
 
The Erie Railroad horn shows up now and then, always with an unrealistic price. And, it never gets bought.

My favorite horn of all time was a German made alto with the emblem of the Luftwaffe stamped into same. Aside from the uniqueness of it all (since Hitler pretty well banned both jazz and the saxophone, one wonders how that one slipped by), it had the attention of all the "anything to do with the Third Reich is evil and should be destroyed" crowd.

The owner apparently donated it to someone somewhere, as it has vanished from sight ever since.

(According to that book I read on the subject a while back, the recommended replacement for the demon saxofon was a 'cello. I'd like to hear that running through the changes...)
 
IIRC, Terry, the horn you're referring to was a Huller (insert you own umlauts). Not only did it have "Luftwaffe" but some other interesting Nazi-esque engraving. Also, IIRC, eBay forced the person to take down the ad.

Thus I have just Godwinned this thread. Well, SOTSDO did it first :p.
 
sideC said:
Cool! Do they still make them? If not, do you know when they went out of business or were bought out?

My first batch of reeds, back in '62, were Vibrator. I always dug those grooves cut into the back.

Julian
Click to expand...

I think they are back as I have seen the occasional ad for them.

You know my affinity for old reeds . . . :)
 
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