It was on September 23, 2010, that the President of Powell Flutes, Steven Wasser, announced the first saxophone entirely designed and produced on American soil in over 30 years.
The Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone project was headed up by professional saxophonist, and Professor of Saxophone at Roosevelt University, Mike Smith. Smith and his team delivered on the company’s commitment to manufacture a saxophone designed, and produced, entirely in the United States.
The production began with altos, but tenors were promised. (Photos on the company’s Facebook page indicated that they were in progress.) The price of the Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone was not cheap, but then from the outset, they weren’t expected to be. The price? Around the $10,000 range.
To the eighteen of you who have a Silver Eagle…. You’ve got a hell of a collectors item.
Now, not quite 3½ years after Wasser’s big announcement about the Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone, it appears that the horn is destined to fade into the history books. 
Respected repair tech Matt Stohrer first mentioned this on his Facebook page on February 21. As lots of people commented, and a number of people speculated wildly as to why the company chose to pull the plug on the project, conversation spilled over to other sites like SOTW. However, the Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone’s Facebook page was not updated. (As of the publication of this article—February 24—there is still no mention of the cessation of the horn’s production.)
On February 22, Mike Smith wrote the following on Matt’s Facebook page:
I want to personally thank everyone who has been so supportive of this project. To set the record straight. We had the orders, We had the quality and an incredible team of talented people making this horn. My problem was I wasn’t able to produce a $10,000.00 saxophone. The margin just wasn’t there. Production delays killed me. Outside US venders whose lead times were never met because my orders were so small. Over 20 Labor hours for making the tone holes as opposed to 4 minutes to pull them. The bottom line was everyone we made lost money. We built about 20 horns and had orders for 35 this year. The interest was there and everyone who played it gave me positive feedback. The sound was rich with color and had great intonation. It wasn’t just a” tribute horn.” I don’t think Sterling silver tone holes on a brass body had ever been done before. I tried to make a hybrid horn. Vintage /modern. American style acoustics, offset right hand, unique neck taper was tested with over 25 different mouthpieces. I could have built this offshore and It probably would have been profitable. There are many fine instruments built this way today. I just wanted to make a horn in the States. I’ll probable write a more formal response in the days to come and not at 3:45 in the morning. To my team you are the best… Thank you. To the eighteen of you who have a Silver Eagle…. You’ve got a hell of a collectors item… All the best, Mike….
Well that’s pretty clear, isn’t it? The Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone has reached the end of the line.
If you were one of those players who was going to sell a few horns in order to buy a Silver Eagle, sorry ’bout your luck. 
I wonder if they have any parts left, and what they are going to do with those?
Now for the obligatory eye candy. Here is one of the now very collectible, Powell Silver Eagle altos, complete with its vintage-style case.
Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone 2010 – 2014 R.I.P.
Source: The Powell Silver Eagle Saxophone Facebook page
I was going to post a link on the Woodwind Forum to this post … unless you want to?
Go ahead and do it Gandalfe.
That’s a real shame. These were very pretty horns, a lot of “name” players said they were good, and they were built in the US — with some inspiration from Germany (Powell bought the B&S tooling).
As for me, I better get started on finding as much Silver Eagle stuff before it disappears ….
Signed up for Facebook yet? That’s the only place that I can find anything. Their MySpace page vanished—go figure
—and with it all the info I used for my first article (pre-Facebook page).
Oh, and speaking of B&S inspired: It does have a number of similarities to the B&S Medusa when it comes to the shape of keys & their guards. But as you say, not surprising considering they own the old B&S tooling.