Ida Maria Grassi Alto Prestige

[vasili]

Hi,

My father left me a saxophone. As I can see, it's a Ida Maria Grassi alto Prestige with a serial number 48xxx (1983). Unfortunately, I don't play this type of instrument and I don't know anything about sax.
So, please could you give me an idea of the value of this sax?

Thank so much for your help.

Best regards,

[vasili]

I can add that:
It's a dual colour. Keys are varnished as you can see on pictures below.





I've got the original bill.

Any help would be very appreciated!

[milandro]

It looks really beautiful and in my opinion this has to be one of the top saxophones made in the last days of the company and it has the pinnacle of the keywork that this brand ever built.

Grassi is a brand which has been gaining popularity and if you are patient and look for a suitable buyer you could find someone who would pay as much as 1000$.........on a good day maybe more...... for this horn.

In my opinion very few were ever made like this!

[JayePDX]

I agree...wow.....nice instrument....

[Captain Beeflat]

The Prestige was the "top of the range" Grassi.....more expensive than their now revered Pro 2000.
You have a gorgeous saxophone....were it a tenor I would happily pay the sum milandro suggests.

[J.Max]

Gorgeous horn, and the silver ones are the rarest version of the Prestige. (The standard Prestige 2000 is gold plated). The serial number is curiously low though...most of the ones I've seen are in the 50000-60000 range.

[vasili]

Do you have any idea of its value J.Max?

Many thanks,

[J.Max]

Put it on eBay and find out. It should go for $800-$1000 conservatively, but some have been known to go lower or higher.

[milandro]

the fact of the matter is that you simply don’t have a reference point horns like these are worth what a buyer is prepared to pay for them at the moment of the sale. Only competing buyers or a seller minimum price can set a price to a level but it is not written in stone because there is no great supply or demand for high quality Grassi.

So, yes, good luck! Spectacular though it is , think of a minimum price that is acceptable to you otherwise the sale might disappoint you. Selling now means to sell at the lowest point of a market that has been depressed for some time now. Waiting might be a better strategy and who knows, in a couple of years things will pick up again.

[vasili]

Thank you very much for you help guys.
I don't think I'll put it on eBay. I think, this type of sale will definetely disappoint me.

To be honest, on the original bill, the selling price was 1957 € in 1989!

So, if I sell it on eBay and I get from it only 1000 USD, I'll be very sad.

I hope to find a professionnal reseller or perhaps a sax player who is really interested in and ready to pay for its real value.

[milandro]

the original price of any second hand item is relatively irrelevant to its value , so , yes, you would be sadly disappointed if you wanted to sell based on that price.

These days you can get a secondhand Selmer SA 80 II in new state for 1300 to 1500 €.........

I have sold a Yanagisawa 990µ as NEW for 1600€.........

If you buy a new horn now in the shop and you want to sell it the day after you can expect to lose between 30 and 50% and that is for a horn that has a following. A less than known horn might not even fetch that! Good luck!

[rhysonsax]

I've got a very similar looking Grassi Prestige alto in the same finish with the serial number 44,xxx. I bought it from eBay here in the UK about four years ago for £475, so about 550 Euros.

I haven't seen many other horns like it and really like the look and feel. The sound is good also, but not quite as good as my Selmers or Buffets.

Rhys

[vasili]

Thank you for all this information, I'll take them into account for sure.