Mystery J. Keilwerth Tenor Sax

Yesterday my buddy Pete Hales pointed out a mystery J. Keilwerth tenor sax that is currently for sale on the German eBay site.

Source: collie969 on eBay.de

What’s a mystery about this horn, is that it has no model name. Instead, it is engraved with the Julius Keilwerth name where King, Toneking, or The New King would normally be.

Source: collie969 on eBay.de

Nor does it have a serial number, or even the company logo engraved on it. These are normally located under the right thumb rest.

Source: collie969 on eBay.de

What does the seller say about this mystery J. Keilwerth tenor sax? Well judge for yourself. He/she does provide both German and English in the ad copy. Unfortunately it is not exactly the same…

Julius Keilwerth Tenorsax aus der Vorkriegszeit zu verkaufen.
Es ist etwas ganz besonderes, da es weder einen JKG Stempel besitzt, noch eine Seriennummer. Das Fehlen ist absolut original! Ich habe Keilwerth daraufhin angeschrieben, aber auch sie konnten mir nicht weiter helfen dieses Sax zu datieren. Es könnte sich um einen Prototyp eines Toneking Modell 1 handeln, oder um vielleicht das erste in Bad Nauheim produzierte Saxophon.
Anders als bei sämtlichen Vorkriegs- und auch Nachkriegsmodellen ist die S-Bogenaufnahme ein ganz klein wenig weiter, ca. 28,1mm. Es besitzt einen hoch-D-Triller und einen Es-Triller und original keine Stimmschraube am S-Bogen.

Zustand: Strukturell sehr gut, leichter Silberabrieb, Kratzer vom Ständer und ein paar kleinste Dellen.

Die Oktavklappe am S-Bogen wurde anscheinend nachgelötet, die Mundstücköffnung hatte 2 Risse, die professionell gepatcht wurden und ein neuer Ring wurde aufgezogen. Die Marschgabelhalterung wurde wohl auch nachträglich angebracht.

Es hat neue Polster bekommen, ist frisch eingestellt und spielt sauber und weich von oben bis ganz unten mit dem typischen Vorkriegskeilwerthton!

Nach Absprache kann es getestet und natürlich auch abgeholt werden.

Dazu gibt es einen nagelneuen stabilen schwarzen Koffer.

Sollten mehr Bilder gewünscht werden, oder Fragen bestehen, nur zu!

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Pre-War Keilwerth for sale.
This one is something very special. There ist no JKG stamp nor any serial number visible. And this is absolutely original! I wrote to Keilwerth and spoke to a descendant of Julius Keilwerth, but no one really knew when it had been produced.
So the only thing we found out ist, that it might be a prototype of the Toneking Model 1 dated in the 30s or one of the first or maybe the first sax produced after they moved to Bad Nauhheim.
The main difference to allt Keilwerths is a slightly wider neck receiver (about 28,1mm) and no tuning screw at the neck (original). It does have a D-trill and an Ed trill as all pre-war Keilwerths.

The condition is – considering its age and that it survived the war – great. Slight sign of use at the silver plating and some scratches caused by these old stands and some smallest dings.

Unfortunately a non original marching lyre holder has been added, the neck octave key semms haveing been resoldered and two cracks under the mouthpiece cork have been professionally patched and a ring has been added (replacing the original).

It has new pads, is regulated and plays from top to down with ease. Wonderful pre-war Keilwerth sound.

Comes with a new very sturdy black hard-case.

If you have some questions or need more pics, you’re welcome.

Here are the key points to keep in mind about this mystery J. Keilwerth tenor sax

• It cannot be the first sax produced after JK moved to Germany. Why? Because it has rolled tone holes. Since Julius had to leave the bulk of his equipment behind in Graslitz, in the beginning JK did not have the equipment to roll tone holes. This is the reason why the earliest German-made JK saxophones had soldered tone holes.
• In English the seller wrote:

I wrote to Keilwerth and spoke to a descendant of Julius Keilwerth, but no one really knew when it had been produced.

• In German he/she made no such claim:

Ich habe Keilwerth daraufhin angeschrieben, aber auch sie konnten mir nicht weiter helfen dieses Sax zu datieren.

• Translated that would mean:

I wrote to Keilwerth, but they could not help me further to date this sax.

• Even if the seller has had the sax in his possession for a number of years, Gerhard Keilwerth (Julius’ grandson) hadn’t worked at JK for a number of years before his death in February 2012. He had operated his vintage saxophone restoration and sales company in Nauheim since 2006. I’m not aware of another of Julius’ descendents working at the current JK.
• This mystery J. Keilwerth tenor sax does bear a striking resemblance to this Toneking alto 14942, which happens to have been made in 1939.
• However as Pete mentioned to me, this sax can’t be either a Modell 1, or the prototype of the Toneking. The Modell 1 had a microtuner and left-sided bell keys, while the first Tonekings had split bell keys.
• This is by no means the only mystery J. Keilwerth tenor sax that has popped up over the past few years. Remember these two head-scratchers…
• There was this Keilwerth Imperial with its eyebrow key guards and rolled tone holes.
• Then there was this mystery tenor that was also sans model engraving. It had bevelled tone holes and wire cage key guards.

If this mystery J. Keilwerth tenor sax floats your boat, then you have only until tomorrow to get your bid in. The auction ends on October 15.

IMHO the seller’s asking price is quite high. The Buy It now price for this mystery JK is €2,950. xe.com estimates that to be $  3,734.70 US at the time of writing.