Those are patches over holes resulting from excessive buffing, and not very professionally done at that.
To the question of 'What happened to this horn?' I have to say simply 'Everything'. I had one like that I bought new in 1966 and even picked it out at the factory in Elkhart, but I was young and stupid and really didn't take care of it. I also dropped it one night, putting a kink in the body. It has been buffed and lacquered twice that I remember, with resultant tone hole dishing. The body was straightened, the tones holes pulled up and leveled and it even was cryo'd. The neck has one of those patches on it plus another round one on top just past the cork, which was put there for a pickup. The keys have been swedged, the pads replaced many times, a few solders here and there. The engraving is pretty much gone and the owner of it now is using a factory replacement neck on it but the thing is still in service, and he says his repairman thinks he could get $4K for it.
The sax in question looks pretty bad but who's to say what it could bring? Just for parts it would be $2500. If it plays probably $3500.
