The Bassic Sax Blog

For a while there eBay had no listings for any of the obscure, vintage saxophones that I keep watch for. Then over the past couple of weeks, this changed. The most recent offering: a nickel plated, alto, “Corps Embouti” model Pierret. (BTW, according to Google translate, corps embouti means body stamped.)

     Source: eBay.com

The seller of this vintage sax describes it as follows:

Here is a very unique model Pierret alto sax in Silver plate, s/n 1940 Manufacture Speciale de Saxophones L.Pierret Paris “Corps Embouti”

If your not familiar with the Pierret brand they are very comparable to Selmer of the same vintage and probably the best French made

http://www.saxpics.com/pierret/index.htm

the saxaphone is in excellent conditon probly needs a few ujustments im not a musician player but friend of mine played it and he said that it is very good exept the photo with the arrow it is soldering the bar but dosnt effect playing. if any questions please ring me instead of e-mailing me i preffer bank deposit or paypal

bidders from international they welcome but please send me an e-mail for shipping cost

the countries varies australia pays 100 dollars for delivery and insurance and a tracking number

no case and no mouth pice the sax will be very well packaged thanks TEL NO. XXXXXXXXX

BUY NO $1800

        Source: eBay.com

I’m not sure about the finish being original. It is possible that this sax might have been replated at some point in its 80+ years.

This vintage Pierret is located in Australia, and therefore the auction is in Australian dollars. The starting bid for the sax is $850.00 AU. (Approx. $735.08 US according to eBay.) At the time of writing there were no bids yet on the horn. The auction runs until February 11.

I must admit, I’m a bit confused by the seller’s ad. Although he/she doesn’t have a Buy It Now option in the auction itself, I’m guessing that the “BUY NO” [sic] for $1800 AU ($1566.40 US, according to XE.com), is supposed to represent the amount that they’d be willing to sell it to you for. If that’s indeed that the case, to the seller I’d say: Good luck with that.

As the owner of a Pierret I’d love to see this “Corps Embouti” sell for $1800 AU, since that would mean my sax would be worth close to that as well. Now while recent sales of 1920s Pierrets have been in the $500 US range, nothing has come close to $1500 US.

Now if you decide you’d like to buy this “Corps Embouti”—or if you already have one—perhaps you’d like to add a Pierret business card with the words ”Corps emboutis” on it, to your collection.

     Source: eBay.com

Actually any Pierret owner might find this card a rather interesting collectible. The auction for it runs until February 14. Bids start at €9.00 ($12.30 US), and the Buy It Now price is €15.00. At the time of writing there were no bids yet on this business card.

© 2010, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.

Well it’s been a while since we’ve seen a vintage American bass saxophone on eBay. Then a couple of days ago I saw across this silver plated Buescher, circa 1922.

     Source: eBay.com

This is how the seller describes the vintage beauty:

Vintage Buescher Bass Saxophone (1920-1925) True Tone Low Pitch, Silver Plated – Serial # 104667 Mouthpiece; Meyer NY, M, medium chamber. Engraved; The Buescher Elkhart Ind. Pearlized keys. Custom black soft case. Recently serviced. Two slight dings on bell front. Otherwise, great condition.

Shipping cost via UPS ground, plus handling and insurance, coast to coast. Box = 19×18x56 h rated at 116 lbs = $325. (Can’t insure via USPS)

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

One would have to see more close-up and detailed photos of this Buescher, but if these dings are really the only damage to the horn, this bass would be in truly remarkable condition.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

It’s pretty obvious that the seller doesn’t play the saxophone—the photos of the upside down mouthpiece kind of give that away. This inexperience might also explain the slightly over zealous pricing on this lovely looking sax.

Bids for this Buescher bass start at $10,999.00, but to date none have yet come in. The auction for this vintage sax runs until February 11.

© 2010, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.

Ever since I bought my Dörfler & Jörka-stencilled De Villiers tenor—with its Keilwerth body tube—I have been intrigued by the brand. They are very much an underrated saxophone.

D&J stencilled saxophones under a great many names. The 3 most common names we see popping up all over the place are: Rene Dumont, Voss and Roxy. However, a partial listing of other names that D&J stencilled horns under include: Symphonic, Jubilee, National, Kaiser, Warner, Concerto, Skytone, Corvair, Senator, H. Genet, Rodgers, Toneline Artist, Jean Baptiste, and De Villiers.

The other day I noticed a D&J-stencilled Jubilee tenor sax on eBay. It was being sold right here in BC. At the time I saw it, the price on the sax stood at under $200 US.

     Source: eBay.com

With less than 12 hours left in the auction, I contacted the seller and asked where in BC he/she was located, and if local pick up was possible if I won the sax. It turns out the horn was located only 30 minutes from here, and yes I could pick it up if I won.

So with that info in hand I proceeded to check the auction, and see where things stood. I was all ready to place my bid on the sax.

Well to my surprise, in the 2 hours it took for the seller to respond to my email, the price of sax had gone up over $100. I was no longer interested. Then this morning I checked to see what the sax sold for, and I was surprised to see that this Jubilee tenor sold for $416.00.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that this horn isn’t worth the money. I’m saying that I’m surprised that someone recognized that it was. 

As I mentioned, Jubilee is not one of the D&J stencil names we see a lot. As a matter of fact, it’s only the second one I’ve seen. The first was talked about on a German sax forum.

This Jubilee tenor does need some work, and my losing interest in the sax is directly related to the fact that I have more than enough tenors already, and the fact that I can’t do the necessary repair work on the sax myself. If I could do repair work myself, then I’d most likely have bid on it anyway. (G.A.S. rears its ugly head again?)

It appears that when Jubilee ordered their saxophones from D&J, they opted for a stripped down version. This sax, like the Jubilee that I saw on the German sax forum, while functional, is not a particularly pretty example of what D&J produced.

The only decorative feature that the Jubilee saxophones appear to have, is this rather ornate engraving on their bells.

     Source: eBay.com

In the following photo, notice the clothes guard is missing. You can see the holes where it once was fastened.

     Source: eBay.com

In the following 2 photos you can see the left thumb rest. This black plastic thumb rest is not nearly as cosmetically appealing as the mother of pearl ones found on the Rene Dumont, Voss, or De Villiers.

However, I must admit that out of my collection of saxophones that have a variety of mother of pearl, brass, and black plastic thumb rests, I prefer the black plastic ones. Simply put, I find my left thumb slips less when I play saxophones with plastic thumb rests.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

Here you can see that the sax is due for some pad work.

     Source: eBay.com

I believe this is the highest serial number I’ve seen on a Dörfler & Jörka to date. Since the company was in operation from 1950 until 1968, when it was summarily taken over by Keilwerth, this Jubilee appears to have been built very late in D&J’s history.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

The key guards too show a much plainer finish than those on other Dörfler & Jörka horns. The ones on the Jubilee are similar in appearance to those of the Keilwerth-stencilled Bundy Special. Whereas the key guards on the my De Villiers has real mother of pearl accent pieces, and the other stencils have plastic made to look like mother of of pearl.

     Source: eBay.com

Whoever bought this sax will have themselves a nice tenor when it is all fixed up. It will take some work however.

If you missed out on this sax, and are in the market for a Dörfler & Jörka tenor, there is currently a Roxy on eBay. At the time of writing there was 1 bid of $349.95 US on it. Its serial number is 9011.

© 2010, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.