Another Dörfler & Jörka Stencil Sax Recently Sold On eBay
Author: Helen
- A Vintage De Villiers Tenor Saxophone
- My Keilwerth Clone Is Home Again
- The Dörfler & Jörka Is Deceptively Adaptable
- Voss (Dörfler & Jörka) Tenor On eBay
- Yet Another Voss Tenor on eBay
- Vintage Voss Alto On eBay
- Rene Dumont Tenor On eBay
- Rene Dumont Tenor On eBay
- Another Dörfler & Jörka Stencil Sax Recently Sold On eBay
- Dörfler & Jörka-Stencilled H. Genet Tenor Sax On eBay
- Dörfler & Jörka-Stencilled Senator Alto Currently On eBay
- Another Dörfler & Jörka Stencil Name Identified
- A Dörfler & Jörka Impala Tenor Up For Auction
- A Dörfler & Jörka Information Update
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.
sam netherland on 
Chris on
Update: The Roxy tenor I mentioned briefly here, sold for $560.00 with a total of 8 bids on it.
I find this somewhat encouraging. It seems to me that these D&J horns are going up in value (or at least in what they are selling for on eBay) over the past 12 or so months.
They are still a hell of a good deal however. This is a lot of sax of the for the money.