Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/14/2007

Question
A friend of mine has a nickle silver plated Collegiate French Horn made by Frank Holton in his plant in Elkhorn, Wis. It has a serial number of 103276 around the keys area. I know Holton started making his Collegiate series in 1930, but is there anyway using the serial number, to find out the date of the horn and approximatly how much this is worth without the case. Thanks

Answer
That looks to date to 1929.  Interesting.  The material I have seen always says that the Collegiate line was started in the 30s - no specific date.  Possibly it was started a bit earlier,  OR, it may be that the horn was in process for a while after the serial number was assigned. We tend to think of the serial numbers as absolute indication of when the instrument was completed, but I believe the factories saw the number simply as a way to keep track of a product.