Very Rare Hammerschmidt Alto On German eBay

Yesterday I happened to come across this amazing looking alto on the German eBay site. It is a Josef Hammerschmidt & Sons alto sax, for sale in Höchst, Germany. The horn, besides being in amazing condition, looks quite unusual. Judge for yourself…

   The source of all photos: eBay.de

The keyguards do resemble the “eye brow” ones that some of the King Zephyr saxes had.

A nail file G# key, reminiscent of much older saxes.

The octave key assembly is interesting. The thumb rest is the Hammerschmidt moon-shaped one, but the key is shaped quite differently, almost tear-dropped. The wish-bone shaped mechanism however, is typical.

If you would like to compare it to another Hammerschmidt, you can check out mine.

This does look like a nickle-plated sax to my eyes.

This is the original case.

I won’t bother providing you with the full text, since it is in German, but if you’re interested, you can check the auction out on line & translate it with one of the web-translating programs out there. I’ll give you the basics here though…

The sax recently had a professional rebuild with new pads with metal resos & new corks, etc. The seller says the silver is 99% intact. (Now I don’t know about that silver claim. To me, the horn looks like it’s nickle-plated.) The only wear on the plating is on the octave key. The horn has a very sturdy build, and has rolled tone holes. All rollers and mother of pearl key touches are intact & undamaged. It is free of major dents and scratches, and also of the smell that some vintage horns get. The bow does have a minor dent & a few light scratches that are not visible in the photos.

The sax is very comfortable in the hands, and allows itself to be played comfortably & very quickly. The sax plays with an even scale. It carries the serial number 032, and was built in 1952, according to the instrument maker that the seller spoke with. This horn represents an extremely rare variety of model, which was only produced in very small numbers. The artistic keyguards & the interesting octave key assembly are 2 of the features which make this such an usual & rare design.

The case is original, and has been protected with a case cover (not visible in the photos), which is why it is still in such good condition. All latches work well. Mouthpiece is included.

If you’re interested in play-testing the horn, you can set up and appointment to do so.

The auction ends on December 17th at 21:43 German time. So if you’re interested, make sure you check time zones.

If it were a tenor, I’d be all over it. But alas…it’s not… However, it is still very interesting to see this “rare” type of Hammerschmidt (not that any Hammerschmidt is common), appear on eBay. Makes you wonder what else people have in their attics, closets, and basements. There are likely all kinds of treasures just waiting to make their debuts on the world-wide electronic auctions.

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