How much is a King Zephyr worth?

[DAP_Kirby]

Serial number = 176049

Shape = 8 on a 1-10 10 high scale.

[sw3119]

According to Steve Goodson at saxgourmet.com an excellent condition
alto is worth about $1500 and a tenor about $1800.

I have a '39 tenor and think it is as good as anything out there
(at least sound wise and playability) Of course it's not a modern horn
so there are some draw backs. But it's the sound that kills me.

[Sigmund451]

If your going the ebay route Ive never seen them go anywhere near that price. They tend to sell in the 700-800 range. Goodson rates are based on a 10.

[sw3119]

If your going the ebay route Ive never seen them go anywhere near that price. They tend to sell in the 700-800 range. Goodson rates are based on a 10.


Absolutely. The prices from goodson are for 'excellent' condition, and yes the prices on ebay are very low for these horns. But, there is difference on ebay between what a horn is worth and what you can buy it for.

My tech complains every time I see him about the prices of horns on ebay. He says that they are driving him out of business. He has a store full of horns that no one wants to pay the 'traditional' going rate for.

Personaly I'm glad to see the price of good horns come down. But when you buy from ebay you just have to hope that the horn is a good one before you ever get to try it out.

I guess that is the traid off.

The one positive thing, from the tech point of view, is that every time I buy a horn on ebay I take it to him to get it regulated and check for problems. I don't know if that is enough to keep him going. I don't know how much of a small shop's income is from sales and how much is from repairs.

[shmuelyosef]

If his situation is like mine, he probably makes more fixing middle school beater horns than the 'labor of love' it takes to get a pro vintage horn purring...

[sw3119]

Yes, he also said he has parents that show up driving a Hummer
and ask why they should pay him more for a flute than the one
they saw at Costco. :shock:

[Pete]

IMHO, the question is little more than semantically null: "How much is a Zephyr worth that's an 8 on a scale of 10?" doesn't mean anything. Alto, tenor or bari? What's the plating? Are we using a logarithmic scale?

176xxx is an extremely early horn. On my own website (www.saxpics.com/king/zephyr.htm) I peg the introduction of the Zephyr around 180xxx. That means that this horn is very similar to the Voll True II. That's a horn with poor keywork and poor intonation. The Zephyrs produced around the introduction of the Super 20 do have a similar body tube and keywork to the S20, but these older horns do not.

The highest priced Zephyr alto I've seen was a silver-plated model with sterling silver bell (exceptionally rare option), s/n 269xxx (http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/king/zephyr/alto/silver/269xxx_sterling_necknbell/). It was also produced around the time the S20 was introduced (s/n 272xxx), so that made it highly desireable. I think www.vintagesax.com sold it for $2300.

Anyhow, the points are that not all Zephyrs are that great and that value guides aren't always that accurate (I can say that www.worldwidesax.com has an overhauled 173xxx alto for $1299).