Weird vintage soprano on Ebay

[Stencilman]

Here's a very interesting soprano that I almost bought out of curiosity:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2519443496

The seller sent me a couple of other pictures of the engravings that say "Made by Couturia, LaPorte Ind.". On the back, it has "B", the serial number 10426 and "L". Could this be a "B" soprano instead of a "C"? That's the one thing that kept me from going after it.

The other curious thing is the bevelled tone holes but the keywork looks nothing like a Martin's.

Comments?

[djonk]

Yes, it does appear to have a missing key! 25 1/2 inches tall is a Bb sop.
There would be no such thing as a B sop.

There is a joke that a particularly skilled technician no longer works in 1/64ths inches. He now can work in 1/65ths!! Or the musician that graduated to Bb from B....get it?

[MusicMan]

If I recall correctly, Conn typically put the pitch above the serial number, but I don't think they put the flat (b) sign, for example, tenors would have a "B" designation, alto's and bari's a "E", C-melodies a "C", etc. The barely legible name engraving would seem to bear this logic out. "Cour" could be Conn...I don't think it was Couneson, but maybe a H. Couf...they did have rolled tone holes. Did Couf follow the same parctice as Conn on the pitch designation?

[Pete]

The horn in question is a Martin stencil -- they used the "La Couture" name (or something similar :) ) for a long time.

Remember: American-made horns, look for the tone-holes. Bevelled almost always = Martin.

Specifically, this is a stencil of Martin's Handcraft model. For more information on this model, go to www.saxpics.com/martin/handcraft.htm

[Stencilman]

I compared the key layout to the Martin Handcraft (mine was made in 1926) and they don't look anything the same to me. The only thing I can see that makes it look Martinish is the tone holes. Also, I believe that this horn is only keyed up to E or Eb. I've never seen a Matin Bb soprano that was keyed like this.

You da' man, though. If you say it looks like a Martin I'll take your word for it! I almost jumped into the auction to snap it up just to satisfy my curiosity.