Antique Musical Instruments/Holton Brass Trombone

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Expert: - 1/24/2008


Question
I have a trombone that says Holton Special made by Frank Holton & Co, Chicago, also Union made #30305 and it has flowers engraved on it. There no mouth piece. Is it worth anything and what year was it made?

Answer
That one goes back to 1914.

As I understand it, the Special was the best of the Holton horns until he came out with the Revelations.  I've got a couple of them and they are pretty horns.  

The trombone makers, White, Olds, etc. were all putting out good quality horns for the time.  Some of them could still perform today - those with a larger bore, though the tolerances of the old slides were much wider than the modern trombone.

Most of the Specials were a narrow bore.

Their value is mostly based on their prettiness, and their age.  

Antique Musical Instruments

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Kenton Scott

Expertise

Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.

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I perform in several historical bands, have informally researched the area, repair brass instruments, and operate a Forum dedicated to the topic at http://horn-u-copia.net

Education/Credentials
B.S. Ed, M.S.

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