Not that I'm in the market, but how do eBay buyers confirm prior ownership?
Would it matter if Tai tried on the skates, hated them, and never used them again? E.g., would having such a story make them even more valuable?
the sax is actually one made in the 1960s!
If it's a Selmer Mark VI, especially if it has the original finish, you might want to insure it. Will hold its value better if your son doesn't play it. But it probably isn't - would be worth more than a new sax.
I've got a Mark VI alto, one of the last made. (My music teacher pushed my parents to buy me one, cuz he hated the Mark VII's.) Not nearly as valuable as the older ones. Last I checked, Selmer's current records say they had stopped making Mark VI's, so a collector would say mine was a fake, but my parents bought it new from a reputable store, at the overlap time that Selmer sold both. Don't play it much. For starters, that original lacquer has started to wear off when I do play it. BTW, the newer models have easier to play mechanisms; the value lies purely in the fact they stopped making it, the pretty engraving, and a slightly idiosyncratic sound. The old mouthpieces and had a different sound too. When I chipped my mouthpiece, they didn't fit my old reeds, and so I paid extra to find another old one.