Anybody know how to reveal polished out stampings on brass?

I have a very old saxophone on which the makers mark, over the last 100 years or so, has been polished away and can no longer be read.
I know there is a process, involving acid, used to reveal ground out serial numbers on firearms. But I have no idea if this can be used with brass, and besides that, I don't want to use acid on this piece.
So, anybody have a less destructive method for brass stampings?
And, no, there is no sign of it, in backwards, inside the saxophone. It must have been a very light pressing.

Thanks in anticipation.

Larry

 

Have you tried tracing/thin paper on the spot with a very light rubbing with SIDE of the point of a pencil? And sometimes covering the spot with flour (or an other powdery substance) and gently blowing away the excess works. I have also heard of doing the same with a soft waxy substance such as lipstick.

Sometimes a close up, focused photo will show more than the eye readily sees, particularly if manipulated (enlarged, negative image, etc.)


Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!

 

Coin collectors use something to reveal the dates on worn buffalo nickels. I don't know just what it is or what the effect is, just that it exists.

Surely the sax should stand on it's merits as an instrument, regardless of the name of the maker?

 

I'll try that with talc later, thanks.

I have tried with a USB microscope and my digital SLR with macro bellows but there just does not appear to be enough indentation left to make it out visually. Some swirls and curves remain but not nearly enough.

That would do the job. Hopefully someone else will know how.

One would hope that were the case. Unfortunately, so many small companies were around at the turn of 1900, making inferior saxophones, that without the makers mark it would be what is colloquially known as a "wall hanger"!

Personally, I cannot stand to see anything of such beauty and engineering being neglected.

Thanks.

Larry

 

Ferric chloride and fuming hydrochloric acid I have, but most acids are etchants on brass. Not something I really want to do to it. If it can be helped!

Any less destructive options?

Thanks

Larry

 

I've been able to get a really good image buy using NO light but ambient light.
I'll try to upload it.
OK, cannot. What is the largest file allowed on here?

 

1 megabyte, but even that's pretty huge.

 

OK, apparently I already had a Photobucket account I had forgotten about! Old age creeping up on me no doubt!

So here it is!
I had to get the ambient light just right and with a bit of tweaking this is what I got!

OK, that didn't work either!


If you can get any more details from it that would be great?

Thanks

Larry

 

That's better!


I have an Idea it is a Boosey & Co sax!

Thanks

Larry

 

That's way more detail than I could get before!

 

I definitely see an S, space for the E then a Y then the top of an ampersand and what looks like the o after the missing C!

If you guys see that also, it means this horn was made in ...............................187X or between 1856-1879 when their records started at 5968 for reed instruments in 1879!

Thanks

Larry

 

So happy you may be getting closer to an answer with a closer examination.

 

It seems to me it could be angel Gabriel's horn but if it sounds bad it is bad, or it could be made by some men in a shed, and if it sounds great it is great.

You need the verdict of a player, not a trademark.

 

If it can be proven to be of that age, whether or not it plays well is completely beside the point!
Right?

Larry

 

I'd say, not really. It's not an original crumhorn or some other really old instrument, it's just a bit old, and by itself that does not always mean valuable. Usually stuff has be old and good to hack it.

 

I'm not concerned with monetary value. Not every one is you know!
So, how can you be a fan of antiques if you only think about monetary value?

Larry

 

Also, being that this one is number 189, what would you say if all the 188 made before this one had been destroyed at some time in the past? That would make this the earliest known example and worth more than you give it credit!

Anyway to me it is priceless because it is the oldest saxophone I'll probably ever own!