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How old is my Console clarinet?

Author: BertC
Date: 2012-02-19 12:51

I bought my clarinet second hand from the long gone Shearers music shop in Leeds in about 1960. It is marked only with the words 'Console' and 'Foreign', and the serial number 2241. I understand that 'Console' was a Selmer brand for students but the word 'Selmer' does not appear on it and the serial nummber 2241 does not fit any Selmer serial number tables I can find. I understand also that some Consoles were made for Selmer under sub-contract by other makers in France, Italy or Czechoslovakia. I must say that for a student instrument it has always seemed pretty good to me. It is wood with nickel plated keys. I fitted it with a Selmer C* mouthpiece and played traditional jazz on it in my youth in Leeds and found it fine for that purpose with an excellent jazz tone. I have just taken it out of its dusty old box and had it fully overhauled and it seems pretty much as good as ever - or it will do when I get my old mouth back in shape. I am curious to know when and where it is likely to have been made. I have always assumed that the word 'Foreign' would have been marked on it to comply with Imperial or Commonwealth Preference, indicating that it must have been made quite early in the 20th Century, but I can't establish exactly when the requirement to mark imports as 'foreign' was dropped. Can anyone enlighten me about any of this?

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