Collection of used wooden reeds: Private Pretoria Herbert Zanker, 2/43 Battalion

Collection of seven used (but complete) commercial cane reeds, mostly with no manufacturer noted (except for two - Gold Star stamped in red) or effaced from use, but with Alto Saxophone stamped on some of them. There are pencilled annotations about the playability of a reed written on the back of some reeds. For example: "soft", just an 'X', or indecipherable. One reed is grooved along its vamp, but the reason is unknown. All are stored in an "APEX" EPNS Jam Spoon box with a folding lid.

Collection of seven used alto saxophone cane reeds used by Private Pretoria Herbert Zanker, 2/43 Battalion in the AIF band in the Middle East. Zanker was born on 20 January 1902 at Orroroo, SA, and enlisted at Adelaide on 2 July 1940 with the 2/43 Battalion. After training he embarked for service in the Middle East in December 1940, serving as a stretcher bearer and band member, playing such wartime melodies as "Elmers Tune", "There's Nothing Like Music" and "Comin' in On A Wing and A Prayer", for which his family donated the music. He was wounded at Tobruk on 21 October 1941, served in Syria and was discharged from the AIF on 14 November 1943. According to his family Zanker acquired this alto sax in Australia in 1938.

New saxophone reeds normally came in packets of ten or so, and the player can count on at least half of them being unsuitable to his or her playing style, hence the pencilled annotations.