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This looks almost identical to my King, which has the model number 1291 engraved on the bell collar. The only difference I can see other than mine only having a recording bell and the silver plate on this is that the bar where the valve levers attach appears to be angled on this while mine is straight up and down. That and the upright bell might be enough for this to be considered "custom," but it looks like a standard 1291 to me.

This is the only BBb version of this I've seen with the staggered, or "angled" valve section. The CC versions, to include both of Mr. Bell's King horns, all appear to have had this feature, but all the other BBb's I've seen have had "straight" valve sections. Interesting...

FWIW I paid about $3400 for mine about a year ago. Mine only has the recording bell and very worn lacquer, so I suppose yours is worth more in its current condition. $5000 is a reasonable value, but I suspect that it might not fetch that much on eBay. Here's a photo of mine. You can see that the valve tubing looks pretty much the same, the only difference in the body that I can see is the angled valve levers.

Tachikoma wrote:some people's comments are just outright childish, almost pouty.

So... Welcome to TubeNet!

You know the deal... It only takes one buyer and it looks as though you already have that! From a sellers point of view, there are only buyers/bidders and the others are meaningless. It may not sell for what you were hoping but at least it will sell... I think it's a great looking horn and wish I had the extra money sitting around to invest!

Goodluck, Tim

Ah yes, the old display carcass from the window of the (certain establishment in Tucson). It's been there for a long time, and others have attested to its poor/unplayable condition. I might have been tempted to buy it anyway, but they tended to price things very high (at least in the early 90's, when I was there); as I recall, they were asking $4,000 for the thing AS IS.

The prices that are hanging on the little tags on the horns there are not what you can actually buy the horns for. I'm pretty sure they are what they will ask the insurance company for if/when that musty old place burns down.

Eric "who bought his 1240 there several weeks ago for much, much less than the figure on the price tag" L.