It's a bear!

Circa 1938 Self-Balancing with Streamline Braces
Bore: .485"-.500" (12.3 mm-12.7 mm)
Bell: 7½" (190.5 mm)

This horn came to me with the assistance of Bob Weller, co-founder of Bones Southwest. Bob not only spotted the original ad on his local (Phoenix, AZ) Craiglist, he actually handled the purchasing and shipping for me. Thanks, Bob!

The original Craigslist pictures weren't very clear. I could tell that it had streamline braces and a bear counterweight, and it looked like the bell might be red brass. Its serial numbers (100xx for the slide, 103xx for the bell) are very close to a wide tone ring Super (s/n 107xx for the slide, 110xx for the bell) in my collection, so I figured it might be a sort of "missing link" between the original Super and the "wide tone ring" version. Turns out, it's something else entirely - a Self-Balancing with streamline braces, a bear counterweight, and duo-octagonal slides. I've got a couple ideas as to how Olds came to make this horn. It's possible Olds briefly considered offering the duo-octagonal slide and streamline braces across their entire line before deciding to reserve those features for their top-of-the-line models. Another possibility is that this was a special order from someone who liked the brace design and duo-octagonal slide, but preferred a yellow brass horn.

Front	Engraving	The Bear	Back
	Back Braces	End Bow