Help with a vintage B&H?

[aeazfh]

Hello everyone, I am new to the world of brass instruments and have only been learning the trumpet for a few months, and today I stumbled on an Ad for a vintage euphonium (I think it is at least, excuse my ignorance). I am very excited since I live in Egypt and finds like this are not common. I am considering buying this but I don't know how to asses it's condition/worth since I can only go off of the photos available which I've attached below. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[davewerden]

Welcome to the forum! I don't recall that we have any other members from Egypt (I could be wrong) but it's nice to cover the globe more thoroughly.

I'm not familiar with that particular brand. I can't read the logo, but the shape doesn't look familiar.

One nice thing about euphonium is that it is a "forgiving" instrument. There are a great many brands that are not well known that still play well. This could be in that category. Two things to check, if possible, would be the basic pitch of the horn. It's possible it is built to a low or high pitch, especially if it was made in the early part of the 20th century. And the other thing is the construction - is it solidly built? Do the slides more smoothly? Same for the valves?

Some of the "vintage" instruments, even the ones that are not commonly-known brands, can be a better instrument than ones currently made in India, for example.

That is the best I can do for a general sense of things.

[aeazfh]

Hello David! Thank you so much for your reply/welcoming, if it makes any difference; according to the seller the manufacturer is Boosey & Hawkes, also it is being sold for roughly $200. I will try to asses the valves and and construction when I see it in person, but are there any other common issues with these instruments I should look out for?

All the best

[davewerden]

In general Besson is a quality brand for all brass, and certainly for euphonium. That probably means the construction is quite good.

The 4th valve is not well shown in the photo (I just noticed that). These have a metal flap that swings into place to hold the valve down when you put it in the case. But it looks like the flap is already "open" and yet I don't see that the piston is up, as it should be. Can you confirm with the seller that 1) there actually is a piston in the cylinder, and 2) that it works correctly?

[highpitch]

You can date the horn if you can get the serial number off it. That would help in determining if a high or low pitch build.

Dennis

[tbonesullivan]

How big is it? It's towering over that accordion.