Antique Jerome Thibouville-Lamy Tenor Sax in Silver Plate - Museum Ready!

Pictured above is an interesting piece, a Jerome Thibouville-Lamy brand tenor saxophone in silver plate. This horn is very old, one can only estimate from the stamped engraving on the bell when it was manufactured (1878-1889 are the most recent years). Jerome Thibouville-Lamy was an instrument manufacturer from the late 18th century through the early 20th century and potentially beyond, but it is difficult to trace back without even a serial number to tie this horn to.

 

Features of this horn include, key work from low B natural up to palm F, ribbed construction for the upper, and lower stack keys, real mother-of-pearl key touches, and Bb, C, and high E side keys. The mechanisms are simple in construction and function.

 

The silver plating has faded in the near 130-year span of this horn's life and shows brass across the horn in different amounts. All the tone holes are soldered on, and thankfully someone has had all of them re-dressed to maintain their seal for another century. Most key guards, a few posts, the upper stack ribbing, and the neck brace are all showing signs they've been resoldered in the past, but the rest of the horn is looking clean and has retained its shape nicely over the years.

 

Surprisingly, this horn plays relatively in tune (for modern standards), and has some older non-original pads installed already. Most of these materials are surviving just fine for now; eventually leaks will form or compound with more use, an overhaul is suggested. 

 

Sonically, this horn has a rich, dark character with a very focused core. This makes sense because the bore of this horn is fairly narrow while the brass walls are quite thin.

 

This horn is a collector's piece as it is a somewhat rare piece of history, but it can be played in today's context while being mindful of its fragile state and intonation tendencies. We are offering this one in as-is condition to be shipped in a box case capable of holding a left side bell key instrument.