There are new Chinese c-melody horns?  That's interesting.......

I'd go with a Conn from the mid-to-late 1920s.  They're dirt cheap; if there's a new c-melody going for what an old Conn would go for, chances are it is a low quality horn.  There are dedicated c-melody forums elsewhere and one resident expert on this forum who can assist you on your journey into c-melody land.

You Are Singing my Song!!, in the key of C.

I have never played any of the cheap Asian brass C melodys, but they do interest me.

Refurbishing Conn Melody saxess is my preferred thing. They are very unique, Way ahead of the game in sound and workmanship. Get a straight neck horn with a tuning Mechanism.

1923 to 1930. The older ones are very common. The later years are quite rare.

Raw Brass is the less desired, but the best vibrating and sounding.

I just finished one up last night. Mine will be headed to ebay soon. Mine has gold plated keys with silver body, gold  touch points and a serial number just above 100XXX. 8 years ago I could have gotten a solid 1200 to 1500 for it. In todays market, I'll be lucky to get 900 for it. Bench time for a setup such as this would easily cost the regular person 800 bucks. my nitch is I do my own work and have 25 years experience. Its a hobby to my Bank Job.

 Here are the problematic issues with getting a used carcass then having it refurbed to be a true excellent playing Cadillac.

*Shell Rollers almost always are fused into place. If they cannot be forced to turn, it is simply best to break them off with plyers, keeping the screw and replace them. There are now some very nice plastic replacements that slmost look original shell

*Pivot lock screws are microscopic and sometimes hard to remove.

*Use only conn Reso Pads. These pads use no glue and the correct fit is extremely tight.

Most Techs just use a smaller size and then use glue. Bad move. The seal will not be correct.

* Neck tuning Mech must be dissasembled and repacked. This in itself can take a number of hours unless you got the right tool.

*Forked Eflat key. You need someone to set it up correctly.

Finally, a correctly set up Conn straight neck wont play like a Selmer, better yet, it will play like a wonderful Conn 10M. They have a wonderful sound and a wonderful feel. If set up correctly.

So, it comes down to you finding a tech that will man up and be honest with you. Either they do or dont know what they are doing when the refurbish a vintage horn. They definitely are not selmers.

BTW, selmer did make one. Check out the selmer museum items here on this site.

Selmer Paris not Selmer USA.

https://www.saxophone.org/museum/saxophones/specimen/1512