For sale is an extremely special pre-1918 Holton Chicago Bb Tenor Saxophone!
This horn is a wildly rare Chicago era early 4 digit serial #1,3xx with its factory neck!
The earliest Holton instruments were produced and made in Chicago. Holton then moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin in 1918 where it spent the bulk of its life.
Holton did not initially hit with saxophone production right off the bat at serial #1.
The first original Holtons were brass instruments, cornets, trumpets etc.
There was then a trickle of saxophones that were then introduced, followed by small batches, then the turn on of "full saxophone production".
This saxophone is stamped LP for low pitch and is an actual tenor saxophone!
The majority of early Holtons, or saxophones in general are alto saxophones or C Melodies so to find a Bb low pitch tenor this early is an extremely rare find.
While there are plenty of ghost horns out there never to see the light of day, on the internet Holton serial number registry there is a record of just 3x other low pitched tenors from this early era. This is one of the earliest Holton saxophones, this horn is an actual piece of saxophone history!
This horn isnt just rare its an absolutely spectacular piece!
The saxophone features gorgeous silver plating with popping gold wash inner bell!
These saxophones can come as bare brass, relacquered, silver plated or silver plated w/gold wash bell, etc. There are not many pictures of these early Holton saxophones, but most of the silver plated ones do not seem to have the gold wash bell. This horns gold wash bell pops and its an extremely nice feature!
This horn also features front F, side high Eb trill key & side G# trill key!
This horn is not working. It appears an at home tech tried to change the pads and did a very poor job, some are even falling out. Your going to need to fresh pad job on this horn or extensive tech setup.
This saxophone is sold as not working and has its fair share of scratches, knicks, dings, fleabites, patina, tarnish, metal wear, used marks and other various anomalies associated with such an old not working antique.
This horn comes with random case with no logos, does not seem to be its factory case.
Horn includes a metal end plug not known if its factory or not.
We have done nothing to this sax, once this horn is cleaned, shined and polished this horn is going to look incredible!
If you enjoy the repair process and bringing horns back to life this would be an excellent piece to get done up!
This horn is on sale at our Los Angeles, California saxophone showroom store and can sell at any point so if you have been looking for a tenor please buy and pay confidently we will ship ASAP upon payment!