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Artie Shaw's Buffet Auctioned

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2014-02-03 10:09

Artie Shaw's Buffet clarinet, Serial number 47662, valued at $12,000, was auctioned off on September 28, 2013 in El Segundo, California. When Shaw retired for the last time, he said he made a lamp of his clarinet, but not this one. Comedian Phil Silvers got it as a gift from Shaw and may have played it in his comedy routine. When Silvers died, his daughter put the instrument up for auction.

Some good photos of the Buffet appear here (the serial number is clearly visible):

http://www.icollector.com/Artie-Shaw-s-Clarinet_i17179863,

I have no idea who bought it or the amount of the winning bid. Can anybody place the date of this clarinet's manufacture from the 47662 serial number?
Shaw is known to have used a Buffet (rather than his Selmer or Conn 400 series instruments) in the last reincarnation of his Gramercy Five.

He may also have played a Buffet in his classical performances in the late 1940s. These include an air check recording of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet with the WOR String Quartet, and a performance of the Nicolai Berezowsky Clarinet Concerto with the National Youth Symphony. These are recorded on the very rare 4 vinyl set "Artie Shaw--A Legacy" (71-7715) released the 1960s by the Book of the Month Club. A few other classical performances by Shaw are on "The Artistry of Artie Shaw" (HEP CD 78). He even did a performance (probably not recorded) of at least one movement of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

Is this Buffet the instrument he used for these performances? The auction specs seem to indicate that it is an A clarinet.

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