When talking about vintage saxophones, it is not uncommon to hear the word “rare” thrown around to describe very common instruments like Mark VIs, Committee IIIs, C melodies with no special qualities, etc. As a matter of fact, the word rare is thrown around so much, that I tend not to use it at all, unless said horn is truly rare—such as today’s interesting example of a Julius Keilwerth horn: a King Imperial tenor circa 1937.
Source: Michael Halvarsson
This King Imperial’s backstory
When the owner first contacted me a couple of weeks ago about this tenor, he didn’t know what he had. Michael inherited this horn from his grandfather, who was a professional musician. When his grandfather got too old to play, he sold all his saxophones, but for some reason kept this King Imperial.
Notice the sax, like almost all Germanic horns of the era, has rolled tone holes. Note too that the engraving is consistent with what we see on JK horns of the roughly the same era.
Source: Michael Halvarsson
Michael had searched all over the Internet, but couldn’t find any references to an instrument like this. When he landed on my website he sent me an email asking if I could help him identify what this saxophone was.
How to spot a Keilwerth: King Imperial or not, some common features give away its pedigree
It took me about 10 seconds to recognize that was in fact a Julius Keilwerth King model, from the time when the company was in Graslitz. Notice the right palm keys. This is a shape that we see on certain JK King model horns that have right-sided bell keys.
Source: Michael Halvarsson
The serial number 94XX, is consistent with the Keilwerth serial number chart, and traces the horn’s production to 1937.
Source: Michael Halvarsson
The shape of the chromatic F# key, right pinkie keys, and the low C key mechanism, are consistent with what we see on see on JK King models from roughly the same era, with right-sided bell keys.
Source: Michael Halvarsson
Even the left pinkie cluster looks like those that we see on the Julius Keilwerth King model saxophones.
Source: Michael Halvarsson
How this King Imperial differs from conventional JK horns
If you’re a vintage Keilwerth enthusiast, you’ve likely noticed some pretty big differences between this King Imperial model, and the conventional King model that JK produced. It is these differences that made me contact my JK-knowledgeable colleagues Matt Strohrer, Uwe Ladwig, and Pete Hales. None of them had seen anything like this before either, but all concurred that this was indeed a JK King model from Graslitz.
The most obvious difference between this Imperial model and conventional King models, are the eyebrow key guards. This is the first JK that I have seen that has them. Until now I only knew of one Keilwerth brother who used this feature on his saxophones. That brother was of course Max, who built the President saxophones first for himself, and then for Hohner.
Another obvious difference between this King Imperial and conventional King models is the lack of a JK logo under the right thumb rest. Even horns with serial numbers as low as 2265 had this logo already. Rather than having a logo, only the words The Best Of The World are engraved on this Imperial’s bell. (The logo on the back of the other horns reads: The Best In The World. Bold added to denote difference.)
Here are the remaining shots of this truly rare, Julius Keilwerth King Imperial tenor saxophone:
Source: Michael Halvarsson
To summarize then…
Here is a chart that summarizes the main features of the horn:
| Julius Keilwerth Like Features | Non-Julius Keilwerth Like Features |
| Rolled tone hole | Eyebrow key guards |
| Bell engraving style | No JK logo stamp under right thumb hook |
| Shape of right palm keys | Best Of The World engraving on bell |
| Fits in Keilwerth serial number chart | |
| Shape of chromatic F# & right pinkie keys | |
| Low C mechanism | |
| Left pinkie cluster | |
Before you ask, no, this saxophone is not for sale. Michael is very happy keeping this saxophone as a connection to his grandfather.
could this be a JK Imperial made in the year 1932?
Hi Ron. I don’t know if it’s an Imperial or not. I can’t tell you what model it is based on its serial #. Send me some photos and I’ll ID it for you.
Email sent.
FYI, for anyone following this, this is the earliest stencil of a JK that I have come across. It is a stencil of the King model. However, it is not the sub-model of the Imperial that I wrote about in this article.
If anybody is interested!
I sell a Keilwerth King, Modell 3 from 1939! Top horn. Recently overhauled. New pads.
Plays great!
See this announcement for pics:
https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen/freizeit-hobby-kulinarik/keilwerth-king-modell-3-alt-saxophon-gerneralueberholt-147347552/
Shipping from Vienna, Europe internationally.
Hello MK. Dein Link hat nicht gearbeitet. Ich glaube ich habe das richtige Saxophon gefunden. Wenn es falsch ist, bitte lass ein Kommentar.
This saxophone is very lovely. I like the fact that it was repadded with red leather pads. I don’t know if the JK’s originally came with red leather at that time, but we know many German saxophones did a little later.
I am curious what your experiences are with mouthpieces. What kinds–besides the original one included–work well with the sax? I have a 1957 Toneking that I have never been able to find a good mouthpiece for.
@leonAzul: It wouldn’t surprise me if the two collaborated somehow. It’s too bad that this sax turned up after Gerhard’s death. It would have been interesting to see if he knew anything about this model, or had even heard of it before.
Yes, the mouthpiece is of the same period as well—although I don’t know if it’s original to the horn. Michael doesn’t play saxophone, and when he was growing up, he remembers this horn very well. He wasn’t even allowed to touch it. It was his grandfather’s pride and joy. Sadly the original case got thrown out after his grandfather’s death, because it had become a home for mice. At this point he is shopping for a new case. It is turning out to be not as easy as one would think.
Unfortunately I won’t ever have a chance to play this horn—unless I travel to Scandinavia. Michael lives in Sweden, so unless I plan to visit the hometown of my cars, a side trip to visit this sax won’t be happening. 🙁
BTW, never feel bad for asking questions. This horn is definitely a head-turner, and if Michael had contacted me and said he wanted to sell the horn, I’d be writing this post about my new King Imperial, because it piqued my curiosity that much too. I’d have bought it the sax without hesitation.
@Pete: Yeah, I’d love to try it. Hell, I’d even try it in its current state. I suspect it’s still playable. Reality is, it is probably just a King, with fancy key guards. But hey, now we have another horn to keep an eye out for, and another horn for me to add to my bucket list. :devil2:
I rather like Leon’s comment about maybe the brothers Keilwerth decided to share a factory for a brief bit. The horn really does look like an almost 50-50 cross between one of Max Keilwerth’s Presidents and one of Julius Keilwerth’s (New) Kings.
It would be great if you could try it when it gets restored, because I know you’ve got both Julius and Max Keilwerth instruments. It’d be interesting to see if this horn has all the benefits of the Keilwerth brothers’ horns, or all the disadvantages.
Hi Helen,
I’m beginning to really appreciate the craftsmanship that these men applied. I wonder if they collaborated on these directly, or just happened to share facilities for this run?
Is that a period mouthpiece, too?
Will you have an opportunity to play and compare?
Sorry for all the questions, but this has piqued my curiosity — can’t you tell?
Peace,
paul