If you’re in the market for a bass saxophone, there is yet another one that appeared on eBay that might be worth checking out. This vintage Holton, which the seller says is a stencilled Conn, is currently up for auction.
Source: photobucket.com
The seller describes the horn like this:
THIS IS A RARE
CONN STENCIL
BASS
SAXOPHONE
THIS IS THE REAL THING
NOT AN IMPORTED COPY
SAX IS ENGRAVED FRANK HOLTON AND CO ELKHORN WISC
AND FLOWERY ENGRAVING AS SEEN IN PICS
BUT WAS ACTUALLY MADE BY CONN
HAS CONNS
PATD DEC 8 1914
1119954
B
RA43XX
L
THIS LOW PITCH HORN IS IN FANTASTIC SHAPE
WAS RECONDITIONED A FEW YEARS AGO
PLAYS FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
NON ROLLED TONE HOLES
GREAT SINGLE RIVIT PADS
FIRST LACQUER
EXTREMELY SHARP ORIGINAL ENGRAVING
NO DISAPPOINTMENTS
THIS SAX IS HUGE YOU CAN DROP A SOPRANO SAX IN THE BELL
Source: photobucket.com
Source: photobucket.com
Source: photobucket.com
Source: photobucket.com
Source: photobucket.com
Source: photobucket.com
Source: photobucket.com
If you are interested in this bass, be aware the seller will not sell to anyone outside the US. The ad actually says: [quote]
The auction for this Holton bass runs until May 29. The Buy It Now price is $6,900.00, and immediate payment is required. At the time of writing, there were no offers yet on the sax.
Heh Matt, don’t feel too bad. This particular horn ended up with Paulo at Just Saxes for work. I know because Paulo emailed me looking for some detailed photos of particular rods of my bass for comparison.
Anytime a person ends up buying anything on-line, they have to budget $ for major work. If they don’t have to spend money on an overhaul, it’s a bonus. But budget on an overhaul, and on a bass that’s expensive! I should clarify by what I mean by “on-line”. I mean either from eBay, or someone who is not a reputable dealer.
BTW, I thought this horn was a relaq based on the photos, and yes indeed that turned out to be the case. So if yours has the original finish, IMO, that’s a good thing. Might not be as “pretty”, but so what.
Looks like I should’ve waited till now to buy a bass! Damn, I spent $7400 last year on the Holton that I bought from Usahorn.
Hi Bruce. Welcome to my website.
You know, I seriously doubt that any saxophone would be plated with platinum. That would certainly be a first. It would not have come from the factory stock like that. Realistically, if it doesn’t tarnish, the most likely plating on it is nickel.
Feel free to send me a couple of pictures of the sax, it would be interesting to see. Pictures of the engraving on the bell are helpful. Send as many pictures as you would like. They should be fairly big size-wise (pixels I’m talking about) so that I can see some details. There is a link to my email at the bottom of the page through the “Contact Us” link…
As far as what the finish really is, that would have to be determined by a professional. Given your line of work, do you happen to know anyone? Perhaps a colleague of yours from another store could help you out. 🙂
Finish notwithstanding, bass saxophones are selling for around the $5,000 mark right now. A beautiful gold-plated Buescher bass just sold for $5257.00 on eBay. A year ago that same horn would easily have sold for over $7,000.
If the finish really is platinum, and it would have to be authenticated, then I don’t know how much it would sell for, since it would be a “one of”.
How much is platinum worth on a horn? To me as a player: Not much. To a collector? I don’t know. You would have to find one somewhere, and negotiate a price.
I’ll tell you this: there are lots of beautiful vintage “one of’s” out there that are authentic, being sold be reputable saxophone speciality shops, that are not moving. Very few people are buying collectibles at the moment. The economy sucks, and the vintage sax market has crashed for the time being.
Hi Helen: What is your current Opinion of what a BBb Sax should cost? I’m not looking for anything Special ~~ just a Good Working Bass Sax.
I recently did a bit of research because for about a 2 week period of time there, I actually considered selling mine. (I have since reconsidered, so mine is NOT for sale BTW.)
That said, a bass sax in decent condition, that comes with a functional case, will likely run you north of $5,000 US. If it’s been overhauled by a tech add at least $1,000. Comes with a new case: add anywhere from $500 to $1,000. MP present or not won’t matter in the price, unless you’re buying a restored horn from a player and they’re including a MP for an additional cost.
These prices I’m mentioning are assuming that the horns are either a vintage: Buescher True Tone (or stencil), Pan American, Martin, Holton, or a Conn (or stencil) that is NOT keyed to high F with a bis Bb. This latter 14M is only available for 10K+.
Finish seems to not factor greatly into the price. Gold plated horns—I have actually only ever seen 1 varified gold-plated bass, and know of 1 other—in theory should be a bit more in cost, but how much more? Who knows? There are not enough of them around to accurately be able to say if the value-added by the gold plate is +/- $1,000 in actual sales price.
Another thing that doesn’t seem to factor greatly into the price is relacs. ATT when the majority of these bass saxophones were made, the horns were available in bare brass or silver plate. Most lacquer jobs you see for sale these days were added after the fact.
Tonekings notwithstanding, JK bass saxophones are modern horns done in the “long wrap” or vintage American style. They are newer–even if they are stencilled for example with the Couf name. They do cost more. I haven’t seen anything under $10,000 US.
Then of course there are the “short wrap” or French style horns like those made by Selmer and Beaugnier (often sold under the name Vito and Noblet). Selmer, well they are the priciest, and a great deal depends on the model. Beaugnier are less. I’ve seen them pop up for around the same price as American basses, but you have to add the cost of an overhaul to that.
Speaking of an overhaul, when it comes to overhauling a bass, most techs have never worked on one. If you check around to see what bass overhaul prices are, you soon realize the cost is higher than that of a bari. In part that is because the pads are larger, so material costs up.
So FWIW, that has been my research as of a few weeks ago. The safe bet I would say is: north of 6K US.
hello i got a frank holton BASS saxaphone MADE IN ELKHORN WIS the serial number is
EB8246LP ITS IN ITS ORIGINAL BOX it might be plated wt platinum do you know how much these sell for and who would buy them
Hi Dan. Welcome to my website!
You’re right. Conn stencil bass saxes are what we tend to see more often. However, Buescher did make stencil bass saxes as well.
Off the top of my head I can think of 2 stencil names that I can send you links to. The first is a Wurlitzer bass that’s being sold by Junk Dude. The second is a Selmer New York bass that belongs to Merlin, another Content Expert/Moderator on the Woodwind Forum.
It’s worth mentioning that Wurlitzer also bought some of its bass saxophones from Conn. So when you see a vintage Wurlitzer bass for sale, you need to check it carefully for telltale signs of who made it.
I’m curious…I’ve seen Conn stencil bass saxes but never a Buescher stencil. Is there such an animal?
Update: This horn sold with a best offer of $5,000.