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These are, arguably, the most beautiful saxophones ever made -- and, according to most, are the best made Conn horns.
Conn decided to go all out in opulescence on these horns, indicative of the world before the 1929 stock market crash: heavy gold plated horns that have mother-of-pearl inlaid (not riveted like the King Zephyr Special or early Super 20/Silversonic) into the altissimo keys, G# cluster, low C/Eb, chromatic F# and all the RH side keys (Bb, chromatic C and altissimo vent). Just this feature alone qualifies these horns as some of the most elaborate ever made.
Conn took another step further, however: these horns have elaborate engraving, sometimes over the horn's entire body AND keys. The engraving is extremely beautiful and detailed, generally showing a portrait or a small scene.
Officially,
the only Conn "Virtuoso Deluxe" horns are only
"Finish 000 -- Burnished gold", with the
description: "Furnished only on special orders and
prices quoted on request." Heavily gold plated over
all, hand burnished over all. Each and every key inlaid
with special choice and carefully selected pearls. Highest
class hand engraving on bell of instrument, as well as
a greater portion of the body, all of which is a special
design and of the highest character.
However,
as you can see with the stupendous 186xxx alto, in the
galleries below, it looks like straight silver and silver
plate with gold keywork/highlights were also available,
depending on the player's preference. These additional
finishes (two-tone, silver plate, etc.) are not listed
in any catalog I have ever seen, but I have listed them
here to distinguish them from other models of Conn New
Wonder.
C
instruments in this "Virtuoso Deluxe" finish
are extremely rare: C instruments were primarily for home
use and most households wouldn't want to pay the equivalent
of $500+ US extra for a home model instrument. Baritone,
bass and Sarrusophone models are also rare, probably due
to the prohibitive expense of these horns coupled with
the added expense of the very time-consuming engraving
and inlay work and the cost of two to three times the
amount of gold plate used on other models. The baritone
pictured below is now worth close to $4000 US -- and it's
not even full gold plate.
The engraving on the earlier New Wonder "Artist's Special" horns seem to be from a limited amount of patterns (although there are 30+ of them!), but the engraving on each of these beauties is unique -- truly making them works of art. These horns even occasionally have the engraver's name someplace on the horn -- generally Julius Stemberg (Conn's master engraver) or L. Osborne (they also engraved some of the Artist's horns, too).
The
CHEAPEST of these horns generally sell in the $2000 range,
today. The two-tone alto pictured below sold for over
$3000 in 2003. These horns are mechanically and sonically
superior to the Selmer 26 of approximately identical vintage
and if you're offered a choice between the two -- at generally
the same price -- go for the Conn.
Finally,
King, Martin and Buescher also produced "Virtuoso
Deluxe"-style horns in heavy gold plate with elaborate
engraving and extra pearl inlay (and even some stencils).
These are rare to the point of almost being non-extant.
WARNING! Note that that Conn produced HIGH PITCH horns until about 1940. Modern instruments, except for some instruments used in concert orchestras in Europe, are LOW PITCH, with A (the tuning note used in orchestras) =440 hz. Some high pitch horns from other manufacturers can be used, if you've got a good ear, because they're tuned to, say, A=442. Conns are pitched around A=457. In other words, you can't play a Conn high pitch horn with other instrumentalists because you'll be seriously out of tune with them! Luckily, Conn did include the stamp "HP" or "High Pitch" above the serial number for these horns that had the odd tuning.
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