Update: A former music shop owner who was a B&S dealer, sent me a bunch of original paperwork. Yes, it include a lot of Guardala materials. I have uploaded them it to the Dave Guardala section on the Bassic Sax website. Enjoy.
Although I write about horns on eBay a lot, I have never actually bought one through the online auction site. True be told, since joining as a member in 1998, I have bought a grand total of five, yup count ’em, 5 items through this gigantic auction site. And while the things that I have bought have ranged from a rubber duck to a flask, the only saxophone-related paraphernalia that I have bought are two vintage saxophone brochures.
Last weekend I was hoping to increase my total eBay purchase total to six, with yet more saxophone brochures, but alas, it was not meant to be. I was outbid by a stupid-ass amount, and the circa 1990s brochures sold for north of $100 US.
Now at this point you’re probably thinking I was bidding on a Selmer, Limited Edition, Bird-Series brochure outlining the various Reference horns with their lovely engraving variants that were produced to commemorate Charlie Parker. Good guess, but that would be wrong. As a matter of fact, these brochures I bid on weren’t even Selmer brochures.
Have I got you stumped? What brand of saxophone’s brochures from the 1990s would fetch over $100 at auction?
Would you believe me if I told you it was a bunch of Dave Guardala stuff featuring horns made by B&S, as well as some mouthpiece and reed pages?
Dave Guardala saxophone brochures for more than $100? Tell me is isn’t so…
Well it’s true. Not only did someone pay $103.50 US for a bunch of old Dave Guardala paperwork, but there was even a bidding war on this material. That’s pretty messed up. Think about it for a minute… You could buy some decent reeds for your horn for that amount of money…
Ever since I wrote the Dave Guardala page, it has become one of the most popular pages on my website. Therefore, it only made sense that when I saw these Dave Guardala saxophone brochures on eBay, I would bid on them in hopes I could fill in any information blanks that I have on the brand. In the past I have had no problem winning auctions like this, since no one bid on the obscure stuff I bid on.
However, this was different. Apparently another eBay member felt so strongly about this material that he/she placed automatic bids to make sure that they won this stuff—even if it cost them more than a hundred bucks.
The question that I have is why? Let’s take a look at what the winner got, to see if this makes any sense…
nice collectable stuff for the Guardala enthusiast, late 80’s or early 90’s, when Dave was doing it big time, before Nadir and Pete took it over, accurate reference material from the source, price lists too, there are a few more sheets not shown
Now if you can answer the question why this material—and any missing pages not shown here—are so valuable, you’re wiser than I am. Personally, I have better things to spend my money on.
What do you think? Would you spend that much money on some paper from the 1990s—even if it was for a brand of horn you have?
Maybe if my name was on the brochure, and I didn’t have a copy, then I might drop that kind of coin on it. Hey Dave, did you buy this stuff? If you did, and you find this article, I’m looking for some more info on the Dave Guardala baris. Could you drop me a line? Thanks!
Yes, I could understand spending that much on (what is, after all) original documentation, if I had one or two Guardala saxophones.
Frame the relevant page(s) and sell with the horn, all adds value for an obsessive collector – not that I know any… :sax: