Alto Conn ChuBerry - Artist version

  • Posted on: 5 August 2023
  • By: Mark

Only a limited number of Conn Chuberry alto saxes were built in the Artist version, with gold-plated body and keywork. These saxes almost always have a beautiful, highly detailed and unique bell engraving. This is one of the last ChuBerry alto saxophones: shortly after this, changes to the keywork were introduced and the so-called Transitional saxes came into being (although this was never an official designation). The engraving of these gold-plated instruments (also on trumpets and other Conn instruments) was done by the famous Stenberg brothers and usually had a portrait, landscape or religious motif. There is a lot of information about this on the internet. This engraving is a landscape engraving of a sailboat on a lake, with nice little details. I have seen a similar engraving on a Conn trumpet, not exactly the same but an identical landscape. 
This alto was built in early 1929, so shortly before the Great Depression. The Stenberg brothers stopped engraving gold-plated instruments at that time, because it was too expensive and there was no longer any demand for gold-plated instruments. Only a few Conn instruments were hand-engraved with a special engraving after 1929, mostly on customer orders.