Again, we're talking vintage, which I'm calling pre-1980, for the sake of this post.
I've mentioned that I now have a Pinterest website. One of the things I decided to play with was to come up with a list of the most expensive saxophones sold during the week on ebay. First, I'll mentioned that this week was bad for a couple sellers because the buyers backed out of the sales. It was also bad for some buyers because I doubt that guy with the $10,000 Selmer Mark VI tenor and no feedback is actually going to send you the horn.
Anyhow, I've learned this, which is actually kinda obvious: if it's a Selmer Mark VI or Super (Balanced) Action, it'll top the list of most expensive, most of the time:
* Week of October 15: 1900 Conn Wonder bass: $8845. 1952 Selmer SBA lacquer alto: $8000.
* Week of October 22: 1954 silver plated Selmer Mark VI Bb tenor: $8499. H-Couf Superba I bari: $2200.
* Week of October 29: 1955 lacquer Mark VI tenor: $10,999. 1936 silver plate Buescher Aristocrat curved Bb soprano (full overhaul needed): $2807.
FWIW, you could consider the curvy pretty special because it's close to or is the last one ever made by Buescher.
Anyhow, the thing that interested me was the extremely high drop-off in price from Selmer to the next highest horn: $6K plus. That's an awful lot. Heck, I'm not even seeing Super 20s show up: the last one that actually sold was a 1960's Bb tenor that sold around $3400 to $3500.
So. Big-time buyer's market ATM.
I've mentioned that I now have a Pinterest website. One of the things I decided to play with was to come up with a list of the most expensive saxophones sold during the week on ebay. First, I'll mentioned that this week was bad for a couple sellers because the buyers backed out of the sales. It was also bad for some buyers because I doubt that guy with the $10,000 Selmer Mark VI tenor and no feedback is actually going to send you the horn.
Anyhow, I've learned this, which is actually kinda obvious: if it's a Selmer Mark VI or Super (Balanced) Action, it'll top the list of most expensive, most of the time:
* Week of October 15: 1900 Conn Wonder bass: $8845. 1952 Selmer SBA lacquer alto: $8000.
* Week of October 22: 1954 silver plated Selmer Mark VI Bb tenor: $8499. H-Couf Superba I bari: $2200.
* Week of October 29: 1955 lacquer Mark VI tenor: $10,999. 1936 silver plate Buescher Aristocrat curved Bb soprano (full overhaul needed): $2807.
FWIW, you could consider the curvy pretty special because it's close to or is the last one ever made by Buescher.
Anyhow, the thing that interested me was the extremely high drop-off in price from Selmer to the next highest horn: $6K plus. That's an awful lot. Heck, I'm not even seeing Super 20s show up: the last one that actually sold was a 1960's Bb tenor that sold around $3400 to $3500.
So. Big-time buyer's market ATM.