Where Our Serial Numbers Come From
Serial number charts differ between sources. This page lists the references behind each chart in our lookup tool, brand by brand.
Selmer Paris
Selmer dates follow Douglas Pipher's Improved Selmer Saxophone Serial Number Chart, compiled from shipping records in the Selmer Paris archives and a photo archive of more than 125,000 instruments. Where it differs from the older factory chart, usually by about a year at some boundaries, we use Pipher. Mark VI alto bow length ranges follow the photo guide on our blog.
C.G. Conn
Conn dates come from the standard factory lists. Era boundaries, including the New Wonder, the Chu Berry, the Transitional horns of 1931 to 1934, and the M series Naked Lady, follow the chart maintained at saxophone.org. Conn's own records describe the years as approximate, and serial numbers jump from about 360,000 to 500,001 in 1955.
King / H.N. White
The H.N. White Company's serial records were destroyed when the company was sold to Seeburg in 1965. Every published King date is a reconstruction by collectors. We follow the lists at hnwhite.com and granlundwoodwind.com, which support dating to about a two year window. That is why our King results read 1939 to 1940 rather than a single year.
Buescher
Buescher dates follow the list built on Albert Mensinga's data, extended by saxophone.org using original sales receipts found in instrument cases. Production from roughly 1942 to 1947 cannot be dated precisely.
Yanagisawa
During the 1970s, Yanagisawa embedded the year in its seven and eight digit serial numbers. Two digits near the front are the year, so 1272903 is a 1972 instrument. Yanagisawa has never published an official chart for later production. The charts in circulation are community reconstructions, and Yanagisawa will confirm an individual serial by email.
Keilwerth
Keilwerth left Graslitz at the end of World War II and resumed production in Nauheim, Germany around 1946, restarting serial numbers at 20,000. The chart shows the two factories separately.
Adolphe Sax
Dates for instruments from Adolphe Sax's Paris workshops (1844 to 1893) and for the Selmer built Adolphe Sax instruments (1931 to 1944) trace to the surviving Selmer Paris log book and the workshop's own numbering, era by era and address by address.
If your instrument came with dated paperwork that disagrees with these charts, we want to see it. Documented corrections improve the charts. paul@dcsax.com