This morning while perusing Flickr, I happened to come across this great, B&W shot of a classic, pre-Mark VI Selmer.
Sax
Photography by: tobyjm Source: Flickr
This very early Balanced Action tenor appears to be silver plated. Or perhaps it is mostly delacquered/bare brass.
Oh if only this horn could talk, and tell us its history. I wonder what kinds of shows it’s played in its life, and who has owned it for the past 77 or so years.
I suspect I view the ownership of classic horns like this a bit differently than most. These instruments, when looked after properly, will be around way beyond the lifetime of their current owners.
Therefore, owning a classic, vintage horn, is like being the guardian of that instrument for a period of time. Once our time on this planet is over, then the guardianship of said instrument falls to someone else.
This is something I’ve been thinking about lots lately, because I have to revise my will. What do I do with my rather extensive saxophone family? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself lately, and something to explore on another day, in another article.
Thanks for commenting on my Sax photo. As you were speculating on the finish I have put a colour version of the picture on flickr (here – http://flic.kr/p/cAv5of) which shows it is a heavily tarnished brass.
I know nothing about saxophones but just loved the character!
Hey there Toby.
Thanks for the visit. I’m glad you added the colour shot on Flickr just to clarify the finish issue. From a photographic perspective, the B&W much more dramatic. I see why you used it.
Take care…helen