I received an email a few days ago from someone who was interested in buying this Hüttl De Luxe alto saxophone, which is actually a Hammerschmidt stencil, so I kept watch on this auction to see what would happen. Given what’s happening in the vintage sax world of late, I was rather surprised by the auction’s outcome.
Source: trademe.co.nz
The sellers says this about the sax:
Alto Sax. H. R. Huttl – made in West Germany.
Very nice Sax. Sounds great.
I haven’t played in years so needs to find a good home.
The case is very run down – broken hinge and outer cover is gone.
Included is 2 reeds and mouth peices.
Source: trademe.co.nz
This sax apparently had some kind of gold treatment in its bell. This finish has been stripped quite badly over the years.
In this photo you can also see the mother of pearl key touches on the palm keys and on the left pinkie cluster. These extra ornamentations were some of the differences between the De Luxe and regular models of the Hüttl saxophones.
For more information about Hüttl saxophones, and for photos of the regular model, check out the Hüttl De Luxe page and the Hüttl page on the main portion of my website.
Source: trademe.co.nz
Source: trademe.co.nz
Source: trademe.co.nz
Source: trademe.co.nz
When I first checked on the horn, on May 25, the bidding stood at $255.00 NZ. When I checked in on the auction periodically over the next few days to see how things were going, I was amazed to see how the price kept climbing, with a constant flurry of activity. The auction ended on May 28 at 8:13 PM local time, when the bidding frenzy finally ended. The winning bid was $1123.76 NZ, which at the time was $699.72 US.
I don’t know for sure how many bids there were on this Hüttl, since only the last 20 are displayed on the auction page, but the lowest displayed bid is nearly double what it was 2 hours before the auction’s end, when I checked in on the auction last. At that point there were already more than 20 bids on the the sax, so one can safely say there were at least 50 bids on this vintage Hüttl. Go figure…
Although the seller says the sax does play as it is, and that the horn had been repadded just before it was put away, so the pads have hardly been used, this sax hasn’t been played in 20 years. It seems that a rebuild is most likely in this Hüttl’s future.
When you consider the very rare model Hammerschmidt alto (that had had a recent rebuild and was in minty condition, and had its original case in the same kind of condition) that sold on the German eBay site in December for around $780 US, then this Hammerschmidt-stencilled Hüttl seems a tad on the pricey side.
However, this Hüttl is in New Zealand, and I’m not very familiar with vintage saxophone prices in the southern hemisphere. It is quite possible that prices in that region are somewhat higher than what we’re used to seeing up here, north of the equator.
These Hüttl saxophones were actually a stencil horn made by the Hammerschmidt company after WWII.
Many German horn makers borrowed ideas from each other, and designs from one can be seen in another.
I’m not that familiar with 1920s Kohlert saxophones. Can you point to 1 or 2 design features that look like a Kohlert? You have my curiosity peaked.
It really looks like a Kohlert “de Luxe” from the 20″s. I guess it might be a stencil.