Set up correctly (few were) they play as well as any modern student horn and are easily much more rugged and less prone to needing repair and adjustment from less than delicate handling - when compared to today's Chinese-origin instruments. Intonation is quite respectable, but sound is a bit on the brightish side.
The fact that you pulled one out of a pawn shop still playable is a testimony to that. A favorite marching band horn as a result. They were definitely meant to be student horns, and as such, are quite rugged, fairly simple, and fairly easy to repair. I read somewhere that the body tube is Buescher True Tone circa 1936 and earlier, although bell keys were moved to the right of the bell and the keywork itself (touch points) were meant to sort of mimic a Selmer Paris layout, without blatantly copying the Paris design that you see today on every new instrument.
A Selmer USA Bundy II is a horn based on a Buescher design.
