Klarinet Archive - Posting 000392.txt from 1999/12

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Ye Olde Conn Saxamophone
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 08:50:08 -0500

David B. Niethamer wrote,
>[snip] [U]nderneath the patent date, and above the "T" for tenor is a number
M9954, which didn't seem to be addressed on any of the web sites. Anyone know
what that number refers to? It's not the serial number.

Don Longacre wrote,
>>By the way, David, I believe I read on one of the saxophone pages that the
"M" was an arbitrary letter selected to denote model, i.e. M6, M10, M16 etc.>>

Bill Hausmann wrote,
>>>But those designations were written with the "M" at the end, as in 6M,
10M, 16M.>>>

Bill Hausmann is correct. I'm not sure just when Conn started putting the
model designation on the sax. There's no model designation on the onefrom
the late 1920s popularly known as the "Chu" or "Big Bore."

David B. Niethamer's number, M9954, is a corrupted abbreviation of the U.S.
Patent date, which usually appears as 1119954. I haven't actually seen one
stamped as M9954 and wonder if it's possible that the stamp sometimes didn't
dig in quite clearly on the curved surface, so that what looks like an "M" is
really "111"? Or maybe one of the Conn employees just got into the habit of
stamping it that way. Anyhow, that's just the patent number.

BTW, it's a good idea for anyone who shops on eBay to learn to recognize that
number, because eBay dealers often mistake it for the serial number. There
is no such Conn serial number as 1119954, without a letter designation. (I
doubt if there's even been a 1119954 yet, since the last known number as of
1962 was 949465, whereupon, due to the sale of the company, Conn changed the
numbering system, beginning the new series from 500, with the prefix C.)
When a dealer gives any Conn number ending in 9954, it's the patent number.

Also, eBay dealers frequently say that a sax dates from 1914. That date
always sets off the buzzer on my automatic crap-detector. The Dec. 8, 1914
patent date continued to appear on saxes made during several decades. Best to
ask the dealer to provide the entire code from the back of the sax so that
you can do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flea Market Blithering #1:
Remember Sturgeon's Law: "Ninety-nine percent of everything is crap."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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