And why’s that? Do you keep more than you should or get horns in worse condition than you expected.
Definitely the first. And other reasons. I have bought to repair and sell, but the reason I bought them in the first place is that they were interesting, as well as a potential profit. Examples might be a pair (Bb/A) of Full Boehm Selmer Centered Tones; pair of R13s going cheap as they were wrongly described; Leblanc LL with extra rings and keys (not FB); Evette Schaeffer Bb which turned out to have beautiful un dyed wood and better than any R13 I had tried.
Then there is the buy to keep with no intention of selling such as a pair of Selmer silver metal “Master Model’ clarinets; my Silver King with solid silver bell and the metal double walled Couesnon clarinet. I have three Couesnon Monopole wooden clarinets of different eras. Of course there is the variation on a theme of clarinet - with Eb soprano, C clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet.
Another category is the historical with no current ensemble function! Some are restored, and some are awaiting my retirement! I have probably the most exquisitely made clarinet I own made by JTL. It is small, almost certainly high pitched, and I have yet to find what key it is. I also have a beautiful high pitch bass clarinet made by the original Rudall Carte company. There are Albert System clarinets, and other curiosities.
In short, I am a collector, and strongly resist my wife’s accusation of hoarder!
To quickly mention saxes, the main focus of my collection there is the maker Couesnon (see avatar). My first sax purchase was, I thought, a beginner/intermediate alto, Vito. It was actually a Vito VSP, and on closer inspection was made by Yanagisawa. As such, it was actually a pro level instrument, and on requesting information from Yanagisawa, they told me it was an A600, and only 50 were made. This is documented elsewhere on the forum.
Chris