Expert: Kenton Scott - 8/7/2006

Question
The Richmond Concert Band collects donations of no-longer used musical instruments and re-donates them to the city school system so they can loan them to children who wish to study music but whose parents cannot afford to rent an instrument.  Today, among the instruments that were donated, we received a Holton silver upright bell euphonium (I am a flutist, so I hope I discribed it well enough).  On the center valve was a serial number that I can only remember started with 101---.  One of our trombone players said he thought it was from the 1930's or 1940's.  It looks to be in excellent shape and is totally playable.  The valves were a little noisy, but I'd think they are fixable.  Can you verify the age of this by the start of the serial number?  Any idea on value?  We, of course, don't want to sell it, but are just curious.  Thanks!  

Answer
Looks to me to be 1928-9.  And easy way to fix worn valves is to simply not use modern valve oil but rather use a thicker oil.  Hetman Classic Oil is one such option.  The problem with loose valves is that they leak air, and a thicker oil will help minimize that leakage.