@J-Jericho Absolutely agree. I always wondered why they used Monel, since it is metallurgically difficult to work with. But I have to agree that my (Schilke and Bach) monel valves are better than my nickel-silver (Getzen) valves or (!) stainless steel (Dillon) valves.
Only a guess, but it doesn't look like "original lacquer" (as advertised). The bell is too shiny and pristine for a horn of that age with original lacquer. It looks like it might have been re-lacquered at some point without proper surface preparation around the valves.
@J-Jericho Hmmm... The link works on one of my machines, but not the other. Will try to re-post to a different site. Thanks.
I said that earlier today in regard to my Schilke cornet valves. By "best" I mean smooth, fast, and reliable. However, "reliable" is the most important. My horns that occasionally have valve reliability problems are:
Getzen D/Eb -- valves occasionally balky or "hang" on the upstroke; also the threads on the caps don't fit perfectly
Olds Super -- valves occasionally balky or "hang" (but they have significant wear)
Yamaha flugel -- valves occasionally balky or "hang" on the upstroke
Kanstul flugel -- valves occasionally balky or "hang" on the upstroke
However, I don't play these horns every day. They sit in storage for long periods of time, which doesn't help. After being oiled and played daily, they loosen up. (But the Schilke cornet also sits in storage for long periods, without problems.) My "daily driver" is the Bach 37G. It has very good valves, but the Schilke valves just seem a little smoother somehow.
It's not vintage, or rare, or custom built, or any of those things. But it just plays great and is the ideal horn for a small room. Schilke XA1. And it has the best valves of any of my horns.
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But,... but.... the Zestimate is only $1,061,675. "The list price and Zestimate
for this home are very different, so we might be missing something." Yes, Zillow. You're missing the fact that it is a 50,000 square foot house and not many people even want such a thing.
@administrator. Thanks.
(650) 593-3050 is the phone for Hornucopia, 1549 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070.
In Silicon Valley, you might expect every business to have a web presence and online store, but they don't. (I don't think.) It's very old fashioned, but that's one of the things I like about it.
Please add Hornucopia, 1549 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070. I know it is not one of the "usual suspects", and they don't have an online store (to my knowledge). But everybody in the San Francisco Bay area knows the place. Sandy has the most amazing inventory of professional trumpets and trumpet stuff I have ever seen, except for Dillon.
@Dr-GO Yikes. Glad you're OK. My old home town, Lawrence, KS, got clipped yesterday. No deaths, but a dozen injured.
https://www.axios.com/massive-tornado-strikes-kansas-69f26459-8cab-4020-9b76-14da120398b4.html
LOL. OK, so here's the rest of the story..... I show up at the one and only rehearsal and after the first two pieces, the conductor says: "These next few pieces have some of the melody in the flugelhorn part. We really need that. Third cornets, can you find the flugel part and cover it?"
So I (the substitute Eb player) stick up my hand and say: "I brought my flugel, if you want me to try it." "Great. Do it.", he says.
So, for the next few days, I'm running about half of the pieces on Eb and half on flugel. We get to the gig this morning and he says: "Oh, the regular flugel guy is here today. I need you to do everything on Eb." So, I wind up sight reading about 4 pieces on Eb, an instrument where I'm not really fluent. (Well, I guess it wasn't pure sight reading, since I had played the pieces, just not the Eb part.) But we survived.
The thing I did find helpful was to use a lot of abdominal support, but not over blow. 
@Bob-Pixley Got it. Thanks. The performance is on Monday, so I still have time. I have been practicing with it every day, and I'm starting get the "feel" for the different pitch, but time will tell.
@administrator Well, we're not yet sure what the end game is for Kanstul. It could be some kind of M&A deal....
@administrator The ending was... "not with a bang, but with a whimper." It could have been worse. But with after such a major build-up, it was unsatisfying. It certainly won't go down in the annals of great series finales like "MASH", or "Six Feet Under", or "Newhart."
@Vulgano-Brother That's how he got the (real) scar across his face. He got kicked or kneed in the face while performing at CBGB.
Here's how I would end it (maybe).....
ROWUK, or at least someone using that name, logged on as a user about two weeks ago.
Bass trombone, harmon mute, glissando, wah, with cimbasso cues. You don't see that in your scores everyday. But it works for them.....