According to the family of a Conn worker who sold this horn after his passing, this was a Conn tenor prototype. Those of you familiar with saxophones will recognize it as visually similar to the Conn “transitional” saxophones that made up the period between the New Wonder series II and the M-series saxophones. This one is unusual in that it is about 40,000 serial numbers earlier , and has an “X” after the serial number.
Assuming the story is true, this horn was probably never supposed to leave the factory, and based on its condition when I started with it seemed to have been used for practice at the Conn repair school– a common fate with prototypes.
This was was rescued and restored. Took me about two years of my free time.