Page 1 of 1

Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:53 pm
by cjk

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:38 pm
by tubatom91
wow, I can honestly say I have never seen one of these things, the price does seem a bit outlandish...just a bit :lol: .

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:46 pm
by The Jackson
tubatom91 wrote:wow, I can honestly say I have never seen one of these things, the price does seem a bit outlandish...just a bit :lol: .
I just don't think you get it, Tom.


You can't put a price on World Class Sound.

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:12 pm
by windshieldbug
Yo. That's a rare bird alright, though way too rich for me.

Made from about 1928-1930.

Most likely for a reason...

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:02 am
by TubaGoon
That is indeed funky lookin' and beautiful...do you think that that's the original reed? :lol:

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:16 am
by bisontuba
Hi-
I have only seen two of these--one at auction years ago at the old 'Music Museum' in Deansboro, NY--back in the early '90's, theirs sold for $10,000. The Shrine to Music Museum has one too. Very, very, rare, but $100k? Let's see if someone outside the US gets it--that's my bet. They are sort of an 'English horn' sax.
Regards-
mark
jonestuba@Juno.com" target="_blank

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:54 am
by The Big Ben
jonesmj wrote:Hi-
I have only seen two of these--one at auction years ago at the old 'Music Museum' in Deansboro, NY--back in the early '90's, theirs sold for $10,000. The Shrine to Music Museum has one too. Very, very, rare, but $100k? Let's see if someone outside the US gets it--that's my bet. They are sort of an 'English horn' sax.
Regards-
mark
jonestuba@Juno.com" target="_blank"
As a seller of collector cameras once told me: "Things are worth what you can get someone to pay you for them". I'm wondering if Matt will be able to get what he wants in this economy but you never know. Back before the dot.com bust, there were lots of things like this that went for high prices. If the seller used his own money to buy it, he can hang on probably as long as he wants. I bought a tuba from him in Dec. and met him at his home. He doesn't have a lavish lifestyle so, you never know....

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:40 am
by windshieldbug
jonesmj wrote:sort of an 'English horn' sax
In F. Systematically destroyed by the manufacturer.

There's a ringing endorsement...

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:23 am
by The Big Ben
the elephant wrote:Note that there is no opening bid, but a BIN and a Best Offer.

If the collectors all have their ears on and locate his auction I bet he gets around 20K for this.

Too bad they are even less useful than Wagner tuben.
"Useful" has little to do with it. I mentioned that I know some about camera collectors. Ansel Adams used Hasselblad equipment for about the last twenty years of his life. At the time of his death in 1983, the retail value of his gear, quite worn, was less $5K. It sold in 1989 for $150K because it had been used by him. It had been sitting unused for over six years at the time of its sale and needed to be completely rebuilt to the tune of $2k to be useable. (Purchased by Don "Nappy Heads" Imus, by the way...) My collector friend brokered a deal for a Hasselblad Space Camera which, for some reason, never went into space. It was documented and legal and all of the papers were filled in. It went for $50K, sight unseen, to a guy in Hong Kong. And the Leica collectors who buy a brand new outfit, don't open the box and put it directly into a safe deposit box to 'appreciate'. Let's not get into the stamp collectors.....

Jeff "Wondering what a documented AJ mouthpiece would go for" Benedict

P.S. Not that I would mind finding a goldplated, silver trimmed, unused King tuba from the 20's (like listed in the old catalog ads) in a cabinet in the basement of an old theater and was sold to me, personally, as an "old tarnished piece of junk".

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:29 pm
by Donn
windshieldbug wrote:
jonesmj wrote:sort of an 'English horn' sax
In F. Systematically destroyed by the manufacturer.

There's a ringing endorsement...
I heard that story but featuring another Conn saxophone, also in F, the mezzo-soprano. Conn was sure that they had a winner on their hands. Excellent player, maybe a good companion to the C melody that was poised to sell in huge numbers to folks who would play them at home around the piano - no kidding, apparently people played music in their homes! and there was at least a brief period where a publishers were printing sheet music for amateur saxophone ensembles. I don't know what all went into their reasoning, but they made a large number of these saxophones ... and no one bought them. 1929 ... hopefully not too much like 2009

So they shipped them back to the factory and gave them to the repair training facility. You'd get an old beat up F mezzo-soprano to practice your repair skills on, and when you had restored it to its natural playing glory, the instructor would take it from you and fling it back on the pile.

Now they're worth a lot of money. And the ones that survived really are pretty good horns, by most accounts. I mean,
compared to a Bb soprano ...

Image

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:12 pm
by tubaguy9
I saw something in the NAPBIRT Magazine about them...but not a lot.
NAPBIRT says they're worth $42,000...

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:04 pm
by tubaguy9
By surfing the 'bay, I came accross a set of odd saxes for another large sum of money...I'd be more willing to pay $350,000 for a set of odd saxes than one odd one for $100,000

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:21 pm
by The Jackson
Well, you need something when you run out of firewood... :)

Re: Conn-O-Sax

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:30 pm
by sailn2ba
Is there a recording of the sound it makes, anyplace?