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I suppose anything's possible. But EVERY solid silver instrument I've ever seen (mostly flutes) has been clearly marked as to it's silver construction. I'm relating to an open hole B-foot Selmer flute that's in the stable now that has 'Solid Sterling Silver' clearly engraved on all three parts. By-the-way... .900 is not considered Sterling Silver. Sterling is marked '.925'.

Also, it's a Salvationist instrument. If the Sally Ann ever had that much silver lying around they'd use it to feed a couple dozen families for a month, not build a horn with it. I can't even see it as a presentation instrument for a retiring Officer. Most people I know in the Army would be mortified to receive anything that extravagant.

I know H. N. White (King) made solid silver trumpet and trombone bells and several parts but NEVER an entire horn. The alarm bells sound for me when I notice the horn was made by the Salvation Army. 1) They made wonderful horns but they weren't known for 'high end' instruments. 2) I doubt they would have had the craftsmen or the material at the time (between WW1 and WW2). 3) If it was such a great instrument and was probably made for an important person then why doesn't it have a 4th valve or a presentation engraving?

I hope the geniuses at the scrap yard will know better, assuming nobody buys it.

Mike-ICR wrote:I know H. N. White (King) made solid silver trumpet and trombone bells and several parts but NEVER an entire horn......

True. I've seen several horns with solid Sterling Silver bells. However... folks tend to confuse the word 'silver' sometimes. Even though I said I've seen horns with solid Sterling Silver (.925) bells... most of the 'silver' bells are actually 'German Silver'... which is just a fancy term for nickel-silver or plain old stainless steel.

I have a reynolds trombone built in this era and they marked bells that were silver with an english pound symbol that looks like a cursive L to make sure that everyone knew for a fact that the part was made with silver. I believe the symbol also meant it to be currency grade... i could be wrong.

Looking at the marks on that horn and how they compare to flatware, I would believe him that it is sterling. However, English sterling was .925 fine, not .900. .925 was the sterling silver jewelry standard as well as the standard for British silver coinage.
.900 fine was the US standard for silver coinage. Its hard to believe the Brits made anything with US coin silver. It was considered inferior. British sterling jewelry and flatware was commonly identified only by jewelers' marks, not stamped .925 like most of it of it today. >8 lbs would be near 100 troy ounces of sterling, which for many people in those days was several months wages. So it would have been an instrument for a rich person.

and that is why the English pound symbol right?

snorlax wrote:I put in a cheap bid when things were just starting & got a note back from him...something like "Why would you bid $10 when the horn is worth $1600 melted down"?
It's all the way up to about $120 now with 20 hours left.

Some questions are dumber than others, aren't they? Good grief ...