If you are, there is one currently on eBay. However, there is one catch: It was not built by Adolphe Sax Sr—Antoine Joseph—but rather by Adolphe’s son, Adolphe Edouard Sax.
Source: eBay.com
As you can see in the above photo, the horn is only keyed to low B. It is however, keyed to high F, but lacks an automatic octave key—which means you have 2 octave keys to contend with.
Source: eBay.com
The seller is not a sax player, so I chuckled a bit when I read his/her description of the horn. Nonetheless, here is what they wrote about this collectible saxophone:
RARE ADOLPHE SAX ALTO SAXOPHONE
This is a rare Alto Sax produced by “Adolphe Sax” in Paris between 1904 and 1908. Its serial number is 15133. It has the SA logo and is nickel plated.
The inscription reads: “Medaille D’or 1900 Adolphe Sax, Feur de l’Academie Nle musique 84, Rue Myrha Paris Made in France 15133” It also has the usual “depose” registered marks.
It comes in it’s original case, and has some spares including Selmer and Yamaha mouthpieces, pins and reeds.
Though I’m not a Sax player I’ve tested it and it sounds great! [Emphasis added.]
Whether you’re looking for a fantastic collectors piece or a vintage starter this is an amazing opportunity to own a piece of Saxophone history!
The rest of the shots show a horn that appears to be in decent shape.
It has no pearls…
Source: eBay.com
And no rollers either.
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Here is a better shot of the dual octave keys.
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Although there are no serial number charts for these Adolphe Sax horns, we do have an approximate age for this particular saxophone. The National Music Museum, located at the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, has a Adolphe Edouard Sax soprano that is only a couple of hundred serial numbers away from this alto.
With the exception of the serial number, the engraving on the bell of that soprano, is identical to that of this alto. The engraving on the soprano reads:
MÉDAILLE D’OR 1900 / Adolphe SAX / Feur de l’Académie Nle de Musique / 84. RUE MYRHA / PARIS / MADE IN FRANCE / 15352
The museum estimates the soprano to be from between 1900 & 1907.
Therefore, it would be fair to say that the Adolphe Edouard Sax alto currently up for auction is circa 1900 – 1907 as well.
This collectible, antique horn is located in the UK. Currently there are 4 bids on it already, with the high bid being £380.00. eBay currently estimates this to be $608.57. The auction runs until March 18.
Hi Ms. Helen.
It’s me again.
I got an Adolphe Sax piece, 50 Rue Saint-Georges à Paris:
http://www.saxophone.org/museum/serialNumbers
It’s pretty much like this one, except the look and condition:
http://saxophonemes.fr/eng.saxophonemes.fr/A.SAX_alto.html
Do you know how much it could worth?
Needs an overhaul, some solders, but there is no piece missing…
Regards
Hi Helen,
Together with a friend I am going to sell an Adolphe-Edouard Sax alto with serial number 16583 for another friend who has ceased playing.
In that connection we found this website which contains serial numbers and dates of manufacture for Adolphe Sax (and son) instruments. http://www.galpinsociety.org/gdsl.html
If you are interested, I can send you some pictures.
If you have an idea what the selling price will be for this sax (it has just had a complete overhaul) it will be appreciated.
Thank you
Otto Andresen
Denmark
Hello Otto. Welcome to my website.
That is a very interesting saxophone you have there that you are selling for your friend. Yes please, do send me some more photos. You can send them to my gmail account, this way I will not have a problem with size.
As far as pricing goes, I’m sure you noticed that the older one here (serial # 15352) keyed only to low B sold for £559.99 just a few weeks ago.
I’m not sure if you saw this one or not, but last November a seller in Germany tried to sell an alto very close in serial # to the one you have. His was serial # 16849, and he listed it for €3,700.00. This was too much, and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at eBay, the horn no longer appeared. I don’t know if the seller tried through another source in Europe or not, or if he just gave up trying to sell the horn. The thinking here in North America was that the price was too high for an Adolphe Edouard Sax horn. I guess it was too much for Europe too, since it didn’t sell to a European buyer at that price.
What you have going for you is that you’re in Europe, and horns generally will sell for more over there than here. Having said that, I know a few dealers in the UK who are having a tough time selling saxes right now. Mind you, they are also not trying to sell a Sax horn, so perhaps you’ll be lucky and find the right buyer immediately.
These instruments are so hard to put a value on, since there are so few of them around, not many people are interested in owning them, and even fewer people buy them. I think for this one I’ll get in touch with a vintage sax collector I know who has a couple of Adolphe Sax originals in his collection. I will need the photos though, in order for him to make an informed comment about the horn.
I’m going to email you this information now as well, just to make sure that you get it, in case you forget to check back on the comment.
Thanks for stopping by Otto. Let’s see what we can find out.
Regards,
Helen
Hello I have Adolph Sax Alto saxophone. Serial number is : 15023. and I want sold it.
So you have one of the Adolph Sax saxophones. By the serial number I am guessing it was built by Adolph’s son Edouard—although I haven’t looked it up, so it really is a guess.
Is your alto like this one, and only keyed to low B? Or is it keyed to low Bb? Are you going to list it on eBay? Something other way?
I send for you foto
one more
you seen my photo ??
Hi Elvis.
OK. So I did quite a bit of checking around. I know you said you want to sell your alto saxophone. Have you decided how you plan to do that yet?
I can tell you that based on this website, your Adolphe Edouard Sax is circa 1907-1928. I haven’t found any website that gives a more precise set of serial numbers for Adolphe Jr.’s instruments unfortunately.
As far as what the instrument is worth, that I couldn’t tell you. As with all horns, it comes down to condition. Because it isn’t an Adolphe Sax Sr. saxophone, it isn’t worth nearly as much, regardless of what condition it is in.
Notice that the alto in this eBay auction sold for just over $600 US. Now this horn is only keyed to low B, while yours goes all the way down to low Bb. That would makes yours a bit more desirable (presumably), and likely worth a bit more money. I don’t have any more prices that Adolphe Edouard Sax saxophone sold for in my records. You will have to do some Internet searching an see what you can find. I’m sure there are some out there, perhaps you can find records of the sales.
In the end though, as with all vintage saxophones, the value is determined by the price the seller and buyer agree upon.
Update: This Adolphe Edouard Sax alto saxophone found a new home through eBay. By auction’s end there had been 11 bids on the horn, and the winner got it for £559.99—which eBay estimated to be approximately $896.66 US.