The Selmer Mark VI “Halo” Effect

Do you already own a Mark VI? Do you want to own a Mark VI? Or has the price of the model skyrocketed to the point where you can’t see yourself owning one without first knocking off your local convenience store?

Perhaps because of their price, you’ve opted for one of the Mark VI’s less expensive cousins. Well don’t bother looking at the BA or SBA, since some of those babies actually cost more that a VI.

So where does that leave a player who doesn’t want to buy a new horn, or necessarily even a used, modern one like a Reference, or Series II or III saxophone?

Fortunately for a would-be vintage Selmer player, Selmer has a very long history of saxophone manufacturing. Thus there are many vintage horns from the company available—many of which date back to the very early part of the 20th century.

Unfortunately for those same would-be players, regardless of what model of Selmer they consider, a vintage Selmer will in almost all circumstances cost the player more to buy than a comparable horn from a different manufacturer. How much more? Well that all depends, but in general there has been an upswing in vintage Selmer prices despite the economy, while most other vintage saxophone prices have sunk faster than the Titanic after she hit the iceberg.

What I find interesting, is how the name “Selmer” on a saxophone will drive the price up by a thousand dollars or more quite easily, over a comparable, if not better saxophone made by one of Selmer’s competitors. The only theory that makes any sense is what I’ve come to think of as the Mark VI halo effect. It’s the only thing that in my mind can explain why a Selmer from 1926 should sell for $1000 or more than say a Pierret from the same time frame. I’ve played both horns, and quite frankly, don’t notice $1,000+ worth of a difference. But hey, that’s just me, YMMV.

If you think that I’m full of kaka with regards to vintage Selmer prices, I encourage you to track them for yourself on eBay and other online sites. Develop a spreadsheet, and watch the prices over time.

Here’s an example of the kinds of info you might want to collect. This is from the tenor spreadsheet that I started back in January. Each horn (SATB) has its own spreadsheet BTW. As you can tell, I didn’t get very far on this particular sheet. (It was while I had pneumonia that I started this project.)

In addition to having a spreadsheet on Selmers, you’ll also want to have spreadsheets on comparable saxophones for the various eras.

Using completed eBay auctions is a good place to start, because there you can find the prices on some of the horns that sold.

Happy researching folks.