Kohlert C-Melody / C-Tenor Saxophone - the two generations

On the left,  my early Kohlert C-Melody / C-Tenor saxophone from the 1920-30's, recently acquired.  On the right, possibly one of the last manufactured Kohlert C-Melody / C-Tenor saxophones - pictures courtesy of its owner, Kari Riikkilä from Finland, who says it is from 1977, which could give the two C's an age difference of around 50 years.

I was lucky enough to acquire my early Kohlert C-Melody / C-Tenor saxophone recently - the silver plated one on the left - by 'internet bidding' at a UK auction.  Not on ebay.co.uk, but an actual established UK auction site, Bamfords.  The only downside, apart from the lightning speed of the bidding, which was over less than 20 seconds, was having to arrange my own shipping from the (quite remote) auction site to my home.

The reason I say, somewhat tentatively, 1920-30's, is that I cannot date the sax because it has no serial number that I can find, there is NO information stamped on the back of the body at all...  There is a possibility that it could have been made elsewhere for Kohlert, as a stencil, and some features lead me to the assumption that it was definitely made 'this side of the pond', in Europe.  It has yet to be overhauled to full playing order, some of the current pads are, at best, 'hopeful' (the bow Eb pad is perched on top of the cup...)

As for the 'last' 1977 Kohlert C, the two-tone C on the right, looking at them in side profile the thing that immediately srikes me is how much lower down the 'sling-ring' is and how much higher up the thumb-hook is on the '77.  Other than that, the profiles and proportions of both bodies are quite similar.  The 77's owner,  Kari sent me a photobucket link to his photos of it, so I can offer links to albums, and slideshows, for them both !  Enjoy, click on the links below to enjoy the pictures.


          Early (1920-30's) Kohlert C-Melody / C-Tenor saxophone pictures

          Late (1977) Kohlert C-Melody / C-Tenor saxophone pictures

          Or as a slideshows - below - scaled to fit both on the same screen....

** Usage hint, hover over each slideshow to see the 'options bar', and click on any of the pictures to see it in a full size window...




                                          1920-30's above, 1977 below....