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Never saw anything so "colorful" before.............that wasn't made out of plastic

I might be a little afraid to put my lips to that thing. Colorful is not always a good thing

Nah... it's OK. Just the silver tarnishing through the gold plating. I have a gold plated sousaphone, so I have learned first hand that the silver underneath will eventually work its way through the gold plating if you don't clean it regularly. A little silver polish will make it look like brand new!

The spotting on the gold-plating is a problem. Gold does not tarnish or corrode, something is not right. I agree the silver part simply needs polishing but the starting bid is too high in my book.

Alex C wrote:The spotting on the gold-plating is a problem. Gold does not tarnish or corrode, something is not right. I agree the silver part simply needs polishing but the starting bid is too high in my book.

YES... silver WILL tarnish through the gold plating!!!!!! It takes some time, it won't happen over night or even for several months, but it WILL happen if you don't clean it for long enough. My sousaphone is gold plated over the satin silver finish and I see the same kind of spots forming if I leave it sitting out and don't polished it for over a year. The spots form around an area where there a very slight scratch or scuff in the gold plating which allows the air to more easily get down to the silver which causes the tarnishing.

All this means is that this mouthpiece has been left out in the air and not been handled or used for a very long time. That is good thing, it means that it hasn't been abused!