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After carefully looking at this mystery horn, I'm 99.9% convinced that it is
not a Pierret. Here's why. I have to date not found any Pierret saxophones that have split bell keys. My rather extensive
Pierret Gallery doesn't contain any images that look even similar to this sax. (I just spent 10 minutes looking through everything just to make sure.) :bluewink:
The oldest model of Pierret that Pete Hales and I have come across are the "unlabelled" and the "Corps Embouti". Neither of these have split bell keys, and neither look like this sax. As you come up the chronological chart, the saxophones don't come any closer to resembling this sax.
I have not seen a neck brace on a Pierret like the one on this horn, until the 1950s or so versions. For example, their
Embassy alto, and their
Parisan Alto (that they made for F.E. Olds & Son) have braces like this.
The microtuner also doesn't look right. It doesn't look like those found on the early model Pierrets, such as the one this
unlabelled alto 5543. Notice the Pierret had 3 rings on the tuner, while this mystery sax only had 2. Pierrets microtuners were consistant in the early days.
The left pinkie cluster resembles no Pierret in my gallery. Check 'em all out. I did, but you won't find another that looks like it.
I could go on, but you get the general idea. Whatever this is... It ain't no Pierret. I just don't know for sure what it is. :dontknow:
I have a couple of theories, but I'd need to chase them down. I'm on my way out the door shortly, so don't have time to research it now. I'll do it a bit later today. I've got some other horns that I haven't got in my gallery, that might resemble this one, but I'm working off memory right now, so I'm reluctant to write anything until I've had a chance to look it up.