More hints
I bought this at an auction. While there I discovered the owner had moved into the house in 1939, and this was an auction of the property and the contents of the house (built around 1900). The house was in a somewhat less than stellar condition, it looked like it had seen ZERO maintenance to the interior in about 35 years, bad plaster, knob and tube wiring, minimal outlets almost a kitchenette in this small 2 story house on a double city lot. There was a record collection of mostly 78s and early LPs of pop music from the 30s to early 60s (I wish I had taken the time to inspect the collection!!!). There was also a WWII airforce enlisted man's dress uniform. NO ribbons or stripes.
The case looked like it had lived its most of its life inside the house - wear on the side handle, no wear on the end handle and some scuffing on the exterior of the original case. Dare I say silver plating is 100% complete? Yes, I do dare!
I can now disprove a theory out there on the engraving occurring after plating of these saxes, this was clearly plated AFTER it was engraved.
I posted in repair and maintenance because I didn't look carefully when posting. All it needs is a mild hand polish, pivots & tubes cleaned and fresh lube applied- old lube is making the action a bit sluggish. Original pads look very good and it pops when snapping the keys.
That ought to give you an estimate of the vintage of the instrument. It was a
very limited run of saxes - and not a stencil. As far as worth a lot, not 5 digit VI prices, but the ones like this that have sold weren't nearly in this condition and they were up there in value. A respected SOTW member in very high esteem and good standing paid $1500 for a rather worn example of this instrument a few years back.
I bet back in '39 the house this came from was a pretty nice little starter home to leave the missus at while he went off to war. Too bad it looks like he never had much cash after leaving the military.