Despite purchasing all of the assets of the Adolphe Sax Company in 1928, Selmer did not start selling saxophones bearing the Adolphe Sax name until 1931. The last Adolphe Sax saxophone recorded in the Selmer Paris archives was sold in 1944. Its likely that production of Adolphe Sax instruments ceased at the onset of WWII sometime after May of 1940. Any Adolphe Sax instrument sold after this date was most likely already made or assemble from pre-existing parts. For example, the record shows that all of the recorded Adolphe Sax instrument sales between 1940-1941 were from instruments already manufactued between 1931-36. There is a fairly detailed record of these instruments recorded in a log book in the Selmer archives in Paris up to 1936 through serial number 1364. The record is much less complete after 1936. Instruments manufactured after 1936 range in serial number from 1350-3600. The log book shows the serial numbers jumping around quite a bit for the Selmer/Adolphe Sax saxophones. Even so, its possible from this record to assemble a basic serial number chart for these instruments. Some instruments were stamped H. Selmer and some were not. All were stamped Adolphe Sax 84 Rue Myrha. By comparing early verses later instruments, it becomes clear that some Adolphe Sax Selmer saxophones were assembled from the old Adolphe Sax tooling and other were put togther using parts and tooling from the Selmer St. Louis Gold Metal model instruments.
The following information was compiled from serial number records which were not complete. Because of this, it is to be used as a guide or rough estimate of when a King or Cleveland model instrument was manufactured. It does not pertain to those models which were marketed under the Gladiator, American Standard, or other trademarks.
Yamaha Saxophone Serial Number List
Mr. Herbert Couf, President of W.T. Armstrong group during the 1970s and 1980s had the Couf Superbas and Royalist/Armstrong/heritage line of saxophones all from Keilwerth. Some of which were sold as a competing model. Royalist II and many Armstrong (like the model 3200) saxes were strictly a student line made in Elkhart as a Reverse-engineered Keilwerth Royalist to reduce the cost. Mr. Couf also owned Royal Music Store in Royal Oak, Michigan until 1989. I believe he now owns a home on a local Golf Course.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s Mr Couf decided to reverse engineer the Keilwerth Royalist horns and build them in Elkhardt to have a lower cost student horn. AT this time apparently the labor in Germany was higher than in the US. From their offices in Detroit, Couf & Co reverse engineered the Royalist alto and tenor saxophones and started producing the Royalist II. The Royalist II is a spitting image of the Royalist horn except they had nickel keys and are made in the US.
Mr. Herbert Couf, President of W.T. Armstrong groupduring the 1970s and 1980s had the Couf Superbas andRoyalist/Armstrong/heritage line of saxophones all from Keilwerth.Some of which were sold as a competing model.Royalist II saxes were made in Elkhart as a Reverse-engineered Keilwerth Royalist to reduce the cost.
7 digit serial number beginning with a 1 means 1970-19747 digit serial number beginning with a 2 means 1975-19797 digit serial number beginning with a 3 means 1980-19847 digit serial number beginning with a 4 means 1985-19897 digit serial number beginning with a 5 means 1990+7 digit serial number beginning with a 6 means 2000+
As far as age goes, the Selmer Paris saxophones have a different serial number chart than Selmer USA like you have. You can search eBay SOLD listings to get an idea of value on an AS-100 in similar shape to yours.
HiI have a silver plate selmer with two numbers. One on the bell (No 14234) and one on lower body (6424 C)Which is the serial number and what is this horn please ?Thanks for info and helpRegardsEd
I just picked up a Series III, serial number 645147. The previous owner says it was bought new in 2013/14, but what I found says 2003/04. Looed at the neck but could not find any numbers. Only on the bottom of bell. Is this standard?
They were all made in France (and have French-assigned serial numbers), but about half of them were then assembled in the USA and have different lacquer and engraving. You can use the same serial chart for any Selmer Paris saxophone.
The main thing you learn from serial numbers is the age of the instrument of course. Although the dates in these charts are reasonably accurate, there may be some discrepancies for various reasons. Here are a few things to bear in mind:
When advertising an instrument for sale, you will often see the serial number referred to as 36xxxx. It is rumoured that there is a scam, by which somebody who acquires your serial number can then claim the instrument is theirs. This may just be paranoia as I have never heard of this happening, nor can I understand how it could happen.
A serial number can of course be used to identify a stolen instrument. If a seller does hide part of the number you may wonder if they are trying to hide the fact that it is stolen. In most cases the reason is for the one stated above, but it is always worth checking when buying an instrument. Ask the seller privately for the number and do a search for that instrument. If it has been stolen recently, the legal owner may have registered it with an online database of stolen saxophones.
All other data is highly suspect: there are no existing Kohlert serial number charts. Keeping this in mind, I'd say this chart is accurate by no more than +- 5 years, except for the years I just indicated.
Yamaha Saxophone Serial Numbers - posted in Viva Woodwind: Can anyone tell me where I will find the serial number for my Yamaha tenor sax YTS 61? The only number I can find is on the back of the bell below the model number and seems too low to be a serial number, as it's only four digits. The sax could well have a four figure serial number. The bad news is that I'm really not sure if you will be able to deduce an age for your saxophone, as Yamaha saxophone serial numbers aren't sequential like most are. 2ff7e9595c
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