Introductory Remarks
For as many years as I’ve been participating in online sax forums (since ’98) people have complained that Selmer’s official serial number chart is wrong. With this particular print ad from 1962, we have categorical proof that Selmer Paris’ Sax Legend is inaccurate.
When it comes to corporate history, it has been proven time and time again that companies are less than reliable sources of their own. Point in fact: this interesting Selmer Mark VI print ad currently up for sale on eBay by vintage paper seller ANTIQUE~GRAPHIQUE, which contradicts Selmer’s official serial number chart.
Now you would think that Selmer Paris would have a pretty good grasp of its own history, but obviously not. According to this 1962 print ad, the Mark VI started with serial number 53727.
Source: ANTIQUE~GRAPHIQUE on eBay.com
In this ad, Selmer seems pretty adamant about when their saxophones got better: it was horn number 53727. Now there’s no mention if the horn was an alto, tenor, baritone, or soprano—and many people would argue that the Mark VI soprano never got better at all anyway, but I digress… That said, it doesn’t matter. Mark VI’s started at # 53727.
OK, I get it. 53727 was the first Mark VI, but what does Selmer say today?
Fast forward five decades, and what does Selmer Paris have on its website? A serial number list that they call the Sax Legend. With Selmer’s permission, Pete Hales has captured this serial number chart in an image format and included it on his website.
Selmer Paris’ own serial number chart indicate that the Mark VI saxophones began in 1954 with horn # 59000.
Now if I had compiled this serial number chart, I could see this type of error. But Selmer Paris? Really?
Oh, what’s this? At the bottom of the 1962 print ad there’s a coupon that can be sent to Selmer for a brochure called none other than: 53727.
Source: ANTIQUE~GRAPHIQUE on eBay.com
Perhaps someone should buy this ad from ANTIQUE~GRAPHIQUE, and send a copy of the coupon to Selmer Paris. Maybe if they looked for a copy of the their old brochure, they might notice that their Saxophone Legend chart is incorrect. Because let’s face it, if you’re going to use the word “legend” in your serial number chart, wouldn’t you want it to be correct? 
Hey, I’m just saying…
I am doing some research on my mother-in-laws late husbands Selmer Mark VI serial number 55868 . Customer portion of warranty tag says purchased 7/21/65 . I know nothing about saxaphones so I have included a few images of it . Any info would be great . I’m told when it was purchased it was in the 800-900$ range ? It seems to be in quite good condition with spare reeds , a couple different mouth-pieces and small brass parts .
Hi Marc.
Did you attach the right photo? If you did, then I don’t know why you think the serial # is 55868. (Which given the year of production you state, wouldn’t make any sense.) The serial # on that sax is actually 71323(5?) I’m not really clear on the last #. I can’t really turn my monitor upside down.
Regardless the horn is circa 1957.
You don’t mention what type of saxophone this Mark VI is. Is it an alto? Tenor? Baritone?
The good—as well as the bad—is that there is a lot of information on the ‘Net about Mark VI saxophones. The problem is that these horns have taken on nearly mythical proportions in some circles, and some of what is written about them is pure hype.
For a non-hyped review of the Mark VI, check out what my buddy Pete wrote years ago on Saxpics. Wikipedia also has a decent article about them.
What else would you like to know? I’ll gladly fill in some more blanks, but I’ll need more photos to go on. …. helen
Of interest, I have 2 Mark VI tenors, #56817 & #58845. My alto is a Super Action, #54952. I have been told by Bob Martin that many Supers came out after the Mark VI’s.
Hi there Jeff. Welcome to my site.
It makes sense that some Supers that came out after the VIs. We know that VIs were made after the VIIs were introduced. (I have a lovely alto from that era, as I mentioned in my comment to Pete below.) This appears to have been Selmer’s pattern. I have never researched it, but if we were too dig into it, I wouldn’t be surprised if we found Mark VII horns that were produced after the Super Action 80 horns began production.
It’s interesting how now they seem to changed tactics a bit, and continue producing the “old” as well as the “new”. The Series II horns and the IIIs are simultaneously in production, but are different enough that people are given an option when they buy. Then of course there are the 2 different Reference altos and tenors. All of course this leads to quite a few different options for a player if he/she is new horn shopping.
I have sometimes wondered if this post modernistic approach to professional saxophone production isn’t Selmer’s way of trying not to lose even more sales to its old horns.
Let’s say, for argument sake, that players suddenly decided that the Series II was the must-have horn, and suddenly toppled the VI in desirability in the vintage horn world. Suddenly Selmer would have to compete against not only its vintage BAs, SBAs, and VIs, but also its Series IIs that would be coveted.
Hey, it’s just a thought that’s been floating around in my head from time to time—one that I’ve never articulated or written down before now. I have not thought it out all that well in this comment. I just offer it up here as food for thought. It might be worth an article sometime. I need to flesh things out more in my mind before writing any more about it though.
Thanks for the visit Jeff.
Take care…helen
according to Jason duMars:
“The very first Mark VI was an alto, serial number 53727. The engraving during that period was not the well-known pattern, but a sort of variation on the SBA.”
SOTW 2006
I think that’s the first ad I’ve ever seen that specifically mentions a serial number. That’s extremely cool. Nice find, Helen!
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I did want to note that you folks that own horns from around this serial number should do some homework to compare your horn with a Mark VI *well* inside the serial number ranges I originally posted on my old website before you conclude your horn is a VI. I checked my old files and the ranges I published were:
S/N 55201-220800, 1954-1974 (alto & tenor)
S/N 55201-365000, 1954-1981 (soprano, bari & bass)
S/N 55201-378000, 1954-1985 (sopranino)
I mention this because there has always been serial number overlap with any Selmer model and because Super (Balanced) Action horns started gaining features found on the VI almost as soon as they were patented, like that little sliding piece for the G# to low Bb. Also, altos and tenors are generally the first horns converted to the new model. As an example, it was several years into the Super 80 Serie III before the bari came out.
Thanks Pete. I aim to please. 😉
I happen to own a late-model Mark VI, that was made well into the production run of the Mark VIIs. My alto is serial # 240XXXX, and is very much a VI.
I’ve often wondered why Selmer chose to continue making VIs for so long after the VIIs came out. Was it to use up all the extra inventory that they had on hand? I’ve also wondered how many they made. Was it one a month? A week? A day? Given that Selmer doesn’t even know what serial # was their first Mark VI, it’s highly unlikely they know anything about their switch-over to the VIIs. 👿
Yah. The information I collected re: start/end dates was based on a few threads on SOTW and other places where folks were competing for the oldest and newest Mark VI. Yours is the newest VI I’ve heard of.
A bigger problem is to tell the latest VII from the S80 if there’s nothing engraved on the bell. The keywork is extremely similar, whereas the difference between either the SBA and VI or VI and VII is fairly easy to spot. However, that then branches into the discussion of “M” serials vs. “N” serials on the VI and VII.
Anyhow, we can make a good guesstimate of how many VIs were produced by checking the serial number lists. As far as I can tell, Selmer used one serial number scheme for all their pro horns. However, this doesn’t tell you how many of each pitch were produced. Mark VII baritones, sopranos, sopraninos and basses? Probably a handful.
I honestly don’t know if mine is an M or an N. I never pay any attention to it. I realized I don’t have a pic of the serial #’s on my VI’s. I should do that sometime.
My soprano is also a late-model horn. It’s not as late as others I’ve seen, but it is 266XXX. I know you’re not a fan of the VI sop, but mine is very fine. It and my alto belonged to the same person, who traded his whole set (tenor and bari too) in on a set of Coufs around 1980. I already had my Mark VI tenor, and didn’t have money for the bari, so I got the alto and the soprano—the 2 horns I needed for university in the coming years.
My alto and soprano were hand-picked by the original owner (a pro player himself) from a large inventory of VIs that this authorized Selmer dealer had. I knew the owners of the store, and was always treated very well by them. Actually it was the shop owner’s son who gave me my Pierret alto as a wall ornament. How about that?
Now the store has become part of Canada’s Long & McQuade chain, and the fellow who gave me the Pierret? He now makes world-famous clarinets. Go figure…
Well, my #1 problem with the VI soprano is that it’s not a curved horn and I do much better on a curvie than a straight horn.
The Mark VI mystique, the belief that the VI is the Stradivarius of the sax world, is generally applied to the alto and tenor. All other pitches? Not necessarily so much. It’s not that I think, say, a Mark VI bari is a bad horn: it’s an awesome horn. I’ve just heard that some other horns out there are better.
Selmer would say that their current horns are the best they’ve ever made. Then again, they said the same about the VII. While I think the VII is also an awesome horn, I do like the VI better: it’s a lighter touch, all-around.