I included the picture of Miles Davis playing one of these because he is ALWAYS associated with the Martin Committee. That is very rare for a horn of this age. The amazing thing is is that there is no red rot on this horn. The only thing not original is the slide stop end nuts. This one was ultrasonically cleaned and then I probably played 5 or so gigs on it. I am a pro player in the New York area and I also do all my own repair work to horns (since 1983). It looks to me like the engraving is not as crisp as other ones I've seen so check the picture and make up your own mind about that. The 3rd slide moves like butter, no snags! It has fairly decent compression. No leaks in the horn and all slides pull well and there is pop in the slides when you pull them. Also there was a dent in the bell tail and I got it out as good as I could so in the picture, that is not a crack in the bell it is just where the dent was taken out. There was some work done on the tuning slide and a patch on the 2nd valve tube as well as at the bell tail. I took photos of the worst side so you can judge for yourself. The valves are in super shape and from what I can see only a few small wear spots. It has the square bell bead on the bell not the rounded one like on the later Super Artists.
#Blessing trombone serial number lookup serial numbers
Serial numbers on the valves match horn.There are a couple of bumps and bruises that I hope show up in the photos. The discoloration on the 2nd valve cap is original to the horn it was made that way. That is why some finger hooks are brass and some are nickle. I think this one is all original but it is impossible to tell for sure because Blessing used some different parts on horns with a similar vintage serial number. I have seen some pictures of Clifford playing a Super Artist with a slide like this and one with one pull knob on the side. This one has 2 pull knobs on the first valve slide. Really nice horn serial number 42220 which puts it in between 1947-48.this would have been about the vintage of horn that Clifford Brown played.