Is This Approximate Centennial Conn Tuba Worth Anything?

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LukeGutierrez
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Is This Approximate Centennial Conn Tuba Worth Anything?

Post by LukeGutierrez »

Greetings TubeNet!

I am currently interested in selling a Conn 4/4 BBb 4 valve tuba made in Elkhart, IN however I don't know if it is worth anything so that is why I am posting it here. I got this tuba when I was in Junior High and I have enjoyed the many years of use I have got out of it. But, I need to get an F Tuba so I am raising funds. It sounds great, all of the valves and slides work perfectly, and it was serviced two years ago and cleaned a year ago. The serial number points to it being about 100 years old using the numbers from Conn-Selmers website, but I'm not sure if it is accurate. I would appreciate if anyone could help me out with some research or give me some ideas for prices. I would be selling it with the original case I bought it with and a SKB hard case. Enjoy the pictures:

Updated: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
Again, any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Luke Gutierrez

2/7/2018
Thank you everyone for all of the advice. I should have it for sale soon. I updated the Google Drive with the photos of thw valves if you want to check them out. I would still appreciate opinions on what to price it at.
Thank you,
Luke Gutierrez
Last edited by LukeGutierrez on Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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GC
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Re: Is This Approximate Centennial Conn Tuba Worth Anything?

Post by GC »

This looks like the BBb version of my 1914 monster Eb.
JP/Sterling 377 compensating Eb; Warburton "The Grail" T.G.4, RM-9 7.8, Yamaha 66D4; for sale > 1914 Conn Monster Eb (my avatar), ca. 1905 Fillmore Bros 1/4-size Eb, Bach 42B trombone
LukeGutierrez
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Re: Is This Approximate Centennial Conn Tuba Worth Anything?

Post by LukeGutierrez »

the elephant wrote:Post some photos of all the pistons so that we can see the surface damage to the plating. If it is actually a century old it will have some pretty bad plating wear in most cases, and this lowers the value a lot. The only way to truly repair that is to take a torch and fully disassemble the tuba so that the piston casing set with the pistons can be sent to some place like Anderson's to be properly rebuilt. This involves the casings quite a bit, so you cannot simply send the pistons off to be replated.

If the horn has been very lightly and carefully used and the original plating is in good condition this will raise the value since they probably do not leak and will not, therefore, cause intonation or response problems. Good valves = better price.

Otherwise the tuba looks good and is very interesting. Do you know the model number?
The valves are in great condition and there is very little corrosion. I will photos photos ASAP. Thank you!
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groovlow
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Re: Is This Approximate Centennial Conn Tuba Worth Anything?

Post by groovlow »

Very nice looking horn. Always cool to see early examples that look in style after so many years. :)
Is the wreath engraving 1920s ? Later teens have a more floral engraving ,yes?
...A-435 I'll wager.
I see larger ferrules on the crooks too.
Location?
Dimensions? height" and bell"
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GC
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Re: Is This Approximate Centennial Conn Tuba Worth Anything?

Post by GC »

My Monster Eb is from 1914. It's easy to see the similarities between these two horns. You can see some of the bell engraving in these shots. The wreaths are definitely similar, while the banner area and words are done differently.
IMG_4944reduced.jpg
IMG_4897reduced.jpg
This horn had sat in storage for at least a couple of decades before Lee Stofer took in in, cleaned it up, took out a ton of dents, and redid the valves.
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JP/Sterling 377 compensating Eb; Warburton "The Grail" T.G.4, RM-9 7.8, Yamaha 66D4; for sale > 1914 Conn Monster Eb (my avatar), ca. 1905 Fillmore Bros 1/4-size Eb, Bach 42B trombone
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