Antigua Winds Student Alto Saxophone. Serial Number A5081763I'm the original owner$1000 when new.
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Model | Start # | End # | ||
VKS Models | unknown | (1900) | unknown | (1948) |
Kohlert Models | unknown | (1949) | unknown | (1977) |
→ Full Kohlert serial number chart available. Click here to view.
German saxophone manufacturers are a bit difficult to learn about, primarily because a lot of the documentation has been destroyed either in the manufacturer's move from one part of Germany to another or in the WWII and the conversion of many of the music instrument factories over to producing war material.
This brings us to Kohlert.
A brief digression: Kohlert is NOT Köhler. Köhler was founded in Markneukirchen, Germany in 1933 by Franz Köhler. They stopped producing instruments around 1961.1
However, while the Köhler example I've seen does not look like a Keilwerth or Kohlert design, yes, there's always the possibility that Köhler did stencil some horns from either Keilwerth or Kohlert.
The similarity in names and similarity in the saxophone designs from Kohlert and Köhler throws most folks for a considerable loop. The similarity in design is not because they shared a common ancestor, but more rather because company X would produce a good design and then everyone else would copy it (this tidbit of information popped up numerous times while I researched Kohlert and Keilwerth). Matters grew more complicated after Keilwerth began producing saxophones in 1925/6: not only did Keilwerth produce stencils of their horns (of which, they branded at least one Kohlert model), but they furnished saxophone bodies to a variety of other German and Czech manufacturers which would affix their own keywork and sell the horn under a different name - sometimes with no trace of the Keilwerth mark on the horn.
However, Kohlert IS 'Vincenta (or 'V.' or 'Vizenze' or several other variants) Kohlerta Synov%uFFFD Kraslice'. This is the Czech form of Kohlert's name. There are other Anglicized/Germanized variants of the VKS label (e.g. 'V. Kohlert's Sons'), but some variant of 'Kohlert' is always listed.
It's an unconfirmed fact that Amati used Kohlert and Keilwerth tooling in their first horns, rather than producing anything new: the first Amatis were labeled 'Toneking' - a Keilwerth model name - and had the Keilwerth 'Best in the World' logo stamped on the back. Some even used the Keilwerth serial number chart!
I'm not quite sure if Amati just decided to use Keilwerth saxophones as their template for future models, but the 'second generation' of Amati horns, such as the 'Classic Super' is fairly reminiscent of Kohlert, not Keilwerth, designs.
After arriving in the West, Ernst worked for a short while with instrument makers near F%uFFFDrth. Shortly thereafter, the city of Winnenden provided the brothers with a former barracks (actually a wooden house) in which to establish a new workshop 11 .
Cybersax.com and a few miscellaneous newsgroup/forum posts also indicate that there was a Kohlert model that had beveled tone holes, like the Martin and early Couesnon horns . Considering this design is a radical departure from the standard Kohlert designs AND because Keilwerth also produced a similar design right after they fled Czechoslovakia, it's possible that either this 'new' model is either a Keilwerth design or could have been jointly developed between the two companies (there is a suggestion that the bodies were imported from the Martin company, but that's a bit of a stretch and there's nothing to corroborate this suggestion).
Instead of specializing on a single instrument, like the Julius Keilwerth company, Kohlert continued to make the whole range of instruments - and, so the profit margin kept shrinking. Realizing they couldn't continue in this manner, Kohlert tried to cut labor costs by minimizing handwork and started mass-producing hundreds of parts. This idea didn't work and left Kohlert with a financial situation which required declaring bankruptcy in 1965 18 .
Contrary to some Internet forums and newsgroups, I see no relation between SML and Kohlert. The connection that people use between the two companies is that both used rolled tone holes and that some Kohlert models are said to have the 'switchable' articulated G# key. Literally dozens of companies used rolled tone holes and Leblanc/Beaugnier/Vito used the switchable G#, too, and none of these have any connection to SML. Additionally, I can't really see a French manufacturer cooperating that closely with a German manufacturer around WWII (SML was founded in the late 1930's).
There has been a lot of discussion about the Kohlert model that has the fancy little letter keyguards. First of all, the letters are 'VKS', not 'JSK', and it probably stands for 'V. Kohlert's S%uFFFDhne'. The 'JSK', in this interpretation, is expanded to mean 'Julius S. Keilwerth'. I've not found any documentation that even says that Julius' middle name started with an 'S' and the mark on Keilwerth horns is 'JGK: The best in the world.'
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