Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/13/2007

Question
QUESTION: When I started band in grade 7, my dad fished out my great-grandpa's trumpet out of the attic. Now that I'm graduating, I'm starting to really wonder just how old this thing is. It's a Holton Collegiate with the serial number 5298. It also has the following engraved near the mouthpiece: T602R. I don't know if that means much, but hey - the more info the better, right? It's in fairly good condition (a tiny bit of rust around the spit valves and some tiny dents [<0.5cm] near the bell) Anyways, I was wondering if you could tell me how old it is, and maybe how much it might be worth.
ANSWER: Hi,

The Collegiate was Holton's version of a student model instrument, however, Holton didn't really have the student model concept down very well, because the Collegiates are pretty darn good instruments.   

But, the serial number and the Collegiate model don't match up.  I'm wondering if you missed a couple of digits in the serial number.  



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QUESTION: Well, there were two zeros before the number, but I thought it might not have mattered, so it is 005298. Does that work a bit better?

Answer
No, it really doesn't.  

OK, consider this: Holton started making horns in 1901.  He would have been up to 5298 in 1908.   But, he didn't start making Collegiates until the 1930s.  But, by 1930, Holton was up to 105,000 in one plant and 63,000 in another plant.

Holton was taken over by Leblanc in 1964 and in 1964 they were up to 373700.  And, by 1980  (the end of my chart) they were up to 558936.

Does your Dad have any idea when your great-grandpa may have bought it?