Two, Count ‘Em, Two Sarrusophones On eBay At The Same Time

This morning I saw something on eBay that might make some of you collectors out there smile from ear to ear. eBay has not 1, but 2 sarrusophones listed on its auction site.

Now these aren’t the Conn Eb contras we see semi-regularly. These 2 particular antique horns were made by Gautrot, and are of a smaller variety.

The first is an alto.

     Source: brassandreed

The seller describes the horn like this:

This is an alto sarrusophone by Gautrot. The Marquet designation indicates the highest quality available from Gautrot. The instrument is in restorable condition with no rust. The frequently damaged bocal is present in excellent condition. An optional hand rest is missing but would be easily fabricated if desired. No case is included.

It’s too bad that this sarrus is missing its case. The horn itself appears to be in decent shape.

  Source: brassandreed

Perhaps not surprisingly, the second sarrus is being sold by the same seller.

     Source: brassandreed

Here is how this little horn is described by the seller:

This is a soprano sarrusophone by Gautrot. The Marquet designation indicates the highest quality available from Gautrot. The instrument is in restorable condition with no rust. It is missing the bocal. The bocal is similar to a modern English horn bocal in shape. I have checked and an English horn bocal will fit. The mounting base for the original bocal is present and a replacement bocal could be made using traditional methods or an English horn bocal easily adapted. No case is included.

It’s too bad that it too is missing its case. As far as the bocal goes, I’m not sure about it. I’ve not seen any soprano sarrusophones in person, nor have I seen large photos of any.

If I were interested in this horn, I’d get in touch with the Grant Green who owns  contrabass.com. He is also the Woodwind Forum’s Content Expert on sarrusophones, so you can find him there as well. He is the person that I know of, who is most likely to be able to give some advice on what bocal this horn may or may not have had.

I’m wondering if this soprano sarrus wasn’t more like an oboe, and just had its double reed inserted in the top. But hey, I could be totally off base here. If anyone knows for sure, please chime in with a comment.

Source: brassandreed

Now for you history buffs out there, the reason that these Gautrot sarrusophones are particularly interesting, is that they were built by the company that invented the instrument. Here is what Grant Green writes on contrabass.com about this:

The Sarrusophone was invented in the mid 1800’s by Gautrot to compete with the Saxophone, for use in military bands to bolster or replace oboes and bassoons. The instrument was named after the French bandmaster Sarrus, who Gautrot credited with the idea for the instrument. Both names appear on the original French patent (French patent #28034, 1856). It was available in all sizes from Eb sopranino to BBb contrabass, including contrabasses in Eb, C, and Bb. The Eb appears to be the most common contrabass sarrusophone (if not the most common sarrusophone of any size), while the C contrabass appears to have been intended as a substitute for the contrabassoon (which was much less satisfactory in the mid-1800’s).

Source: contrabass.com

Pierre Louis Gautrot and Adolphe Sax had had an antagonistic relationship for years. This antagonism was related to patents that Sax was awarded, for things like the 1843 “Chromatic instrument system”, and the 1845 “A musical instrument, called the saxotromba”.¹ 

This antagonism spilled over into sarrusophone/saxophone wars, and resulted in further legal battles as these instrument inventors sued, and counter-sued each other for more than 20 years, over their respective instruments. ²

Getting back to the 2 instruments on eBay. Both auctions end on December 18, within minutes of each other. The starting bid on both horns is $2,500. At the time of writing there were no bids on either horn.

Oops… That’s not true. Apparently the alto sarrus sold since I started writing this a couple of hours ago. There was 1 bid of $4,000 on the alto. So it seems just the soprano is still available. If you’re interested, I suspect you’d better act soon.

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¹ Source: Gautrot page on rjmartz.com

² Source: Gautrot-ainé, First Of The Moderns in Brass scholarship in review: proceedings of the Historic Brass Society, By Stewart Carter, Historic Brass Society