All this talk yesterday about eBay, got me thinking about something I saw last month on the Italian version of the popular on-line auction site. Someone on SOTW mentioned that they had seen a box of reeds for $800 US. So like a lemming, I too had to check it out.
Sure enough, a seller was peddling a box of Coleman Hawkins tenor sax reeds for $800.
Source: eBay.it
Now sure, this wasn’t just any ordinary box. It wasn’t like those old, brown, cardboard box Ricos we can still find if we’re lucky. This box was made of wood! Here is what the seller said about the valuable article he was willing to part with:
Now admittedly I am being a blatant show off. I have the most extraordinary, coolest, rarest and slickest museum-quality box of saxophone reeds on the planet. Despite the graffiti, here is genuine box of Coleman Hawkins tenor sax reeds!! ” The All Purpose Reed” and Swing–Symphony–Solo”.” They are in a wood cigar style reed size box, probably cedar wood. If you are a hard core Colman Hawkins disciple, you simply MUST have these, and I defy y’all to show me a cooler box reeds!! There are about 18 reeds left in the box in excellent condition. Now of course Body and Soul is gonna sound better with these magic reeds! I found these a while back in an old music store and don’t really think I should sell them, but truth be told, the music is not in your horn, reed, mouthpiece or ligature. Its inside you. S&H 6.00 in the USA w full insurance, slightly more for overseas. Thanks and please see my other outrageously hip auctions this week. Payment by personal check, bank check, paypal ok only by ECHECK. Thank you.
Source: eBay.it
Source: eBay.it
Source: eBay.it
Source: eBay.it
Now my German doesn’t work very well in helping to decipher Italian, and using the Google translation page didn’t net me much more than I already figured out by looking at the Italian eBay page. But it appears that the reeds didn’t sell.
No one else apparently saw the value in these reeds & their über kewl box that this seller did. So the seller, who was located in New York BTW, will get to hold on to his $800 box of Coleman Hawkins 3½ tenor reeds a while longer. Well good for him. It appears that he at least sees the value of his collectible.
Perhaps one day a music museum will come knocking on his door offering him big $’s for his prized reeds. I hope he’s keeping them in a hermetically sealed container, with just the right amount of humidity to maintain the condition of both the reeds and the box. It would be a shame if these vintage gems were to fall into poor condition due to improper storage. 
My only regret is that I just spent roughly the same amount of money getting my 10M restored. If only I hadn’t, I could have bought this box of reeds instead. I’m sure that if I’d used these reeds on either one of my other tenors, I wouldn’t have needed another sax! 
I didn’t know that reed prices were go up Randy, but that just shows you how disconnected I am from the cane reed market. The last time I bought some were probably around the time the Ricos came in brown boxes. 😉
Actually…Come to think of it, that’s not too far from the truth…I’ve been playing synthetic nearly that long!
And that’s when the reality sets in…She’s older than she thinks… 😥
If reed prices keep going up, those Coleman Hawkins reeds will start looking reasonable
But then what will I use to make my Kevlar vest out of? 😀
Stockpile synthetic reeds for the apocalypse. When the factories are no longer making them, you might be able to trade them for bullets. 😉
Maybe that’s why he had them on the Italian eBay site? Looking for a new shopping crowd perhaps. Oh well, perhaps one day the right buyer will come along.
If and when they do, perhaps I could interest that buyer in some of the “rarities” in the bottom of my reed drawer.
They might not be “worth” $800, but maybe I could get $400 or so for some Rico Plastic Cover bari reeds in a white box, or $300 for some Vandoren tenor reeds in a purple box.
Nah, I realize I’ll have to wait a few more years before mine reach the collectability status that these Coleman Hawkins reeds have reached. 😉
Helen – this box of reeds has been up for sale on ebay before, this time I’m glad to see that the seller has them narked down to a more sensible price… 😆