3 Valve Version of a French Horn Inspired Toy Sax
Source: eBay.com
This rather interesting French horn inspired toy sax unfortunately doesn’t have any stamping on it, so we have no idea where or when it might have been made. It is a bit crudely soldered together, and not nearly as smooth as some other tin instruments. The seller didn’t provide the size of the toy, but he did say that it played 3 notes.
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
With its French horn-shaped keys, it certainly is one of the more unique vintage, valved, saxophone-shaped toys I’ve seen.
4 Valve Version of a French Horn Inspired Toy Sax
Source: photohome1 on eBay.com
In December 2014 another French horn inspired toy sax appeared on eBay. Unlike the previous one from years ago, this one had 4 valves. However, like the previous 3 valve version, this one is also quite crudely welded together. It doesn’t appear to have been a high quality item, and certainly wasn’t intended as anything other than a toy.
Although I can’t conclusively state that these vintage tin toys were made by the same manufacturer, they share enough similarities—including the mouthpiece—that it’s a pretty good bet that they were. The seller described the item fairly well, and even provided us with an approximate age of this tin toy. This is what he wrote:
It is about 12 inches long. I assume the metal is tin. The valve levers and springs are all working. Three of the four valves actually create different tones when blowing in the mouthpiece and operating the levers. One seems to have no affect on tone and does not by itself create a noise. The finish appears to be silver in color with some wear from play and storage. There is minor pitting of the finish. Edge match-up is imperfect but appears to be as it was originally made and not from damage. Very small dents opposite the valves (shown in photo) – evidence that it was played with by a child.
The age of this toy is uncertain, but it is believed to have been made around 1935. It was owned by a child born in 1927. He kept it for his life and then his widow kept it until recently. This is from their estate.
Source: photohome1 on eBay.com
6 Valve Version of a French Horn Inspired Toy Sax
In May 2014, yet another of these crudely-welded, French horn-inspired, saxophone-shaped toys popped up on eBay. This one went a bit further in the fingering department by having 6 valves for a player’s hands to operate.
Again, not a high-quality item, and I’m not at all sure it is supposed to come apart.
The seller said this about this toy sax:
VINTAGE TIN TOY SAXOPHONE 12″ LONG UNK MFG WORKS GREAT
FOR SALE IS A VINTAGE TIN TOY ? HARO SAXOPHONE, UNKOWN MFG, WORKS GREAT, 12 INCHES LONG – IF I’VE MISSTATED ANY THING PLEASE CORRECT ME / LET ME KNOW – PLEASE REVIEW / SEE PIX TO HELP DETERMINE CONDITION – THANKS FOR LOOKING – ? PLEASE ASK – THANKS JOHN
John’s Emily Post violations about yelling aside 😉 , he mistakenly throws the word Haro in there. I’m not sure why, since he first correctly states that the manufacturer is unknown, and this is clearly not a Haro-made blow accordion.
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