[candyglass123]

Hi any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to research my tennor sax. It is old an battered, but still makes a great sound. On the bell is engraved "Dearman, Master Model, Sole distributors John E Dallas & Sons Ltd" i can not see a serial number or a country of manufacture. It looks like it might have attempted to have been relaqured in the past, but poorly done.
any info would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advanced

carla
[email protected]

 

[JayeLID]

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?3536-Dearman-sax-what-is-it?s=

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?12598-can-someone-please-help


...interesting, although no definitive provenance...

 

[milandro]

Yes, I think that it is very difficult to find the exact origin of horns branded as Dearman because they have clearly sourced their horns from multiple brands both in Italy and Bohemia and perhaps in France too. First of all look very well in unusual and inconspicuous places to see if you find a " made in Italy" or simply " Italy" in that case this might very well be a Rampone & Cazzani (or even more probably an Alfonso Rampone) horn. Rampone & Cazzani thought they could recognise an old Dearman as one of their own but more importantly they suggested at the time that it could have been made by some generic saxophone workers using parts from different makers! If this is the case the horn could never be identified! In the post war years in Quarna they were making horns that were inspired by American , German-Bohemian or French horns so there are many models resembling other saxophones but it is very difficult to make a certain attribution.

 

[candyglass123]

Thank you for the info, i think that without stripping the laquer off i may never find any other details!! I had consider that is could be a R&C as i have come across several people with the same horn, minus the "master Model". However i'm quite attached to the rustic vintage look, plus it does no harm to the sound. I have also not been able to find any information on John e Dallas & sons, just that they sold musical instruments.
once again thank you for the reply, i think i might endeavour down the R&C path and drop them an email.

Kind regards

 

[candyglass123]

I have just uncovered in amongst the keys a "Made in France" stamp with the numbers 9625 any thoughts on this???

I have had a look through some of the threads suggested and it seems to have the same key guards as early Rampones, but the made in france has tottaly thrown me!!! any futher assistance would be greatfull.

Is it possible that its a Pierret???

 

[milandro]

well, this , changes, everything and makes identification even more difficult because it could be an early Malerne (but it doesn't look like one aside for the brace) but there were so many other French brands that we know so very little about.........

 

[JayeLID]

Pierret IS a possibility, considering that swooping sorta bellbrace. Where precisely is the "France" stamp ?

Can you add a photo of the opposite side of the horn ? And maybe of the octave key also ???

 

[SoDelft]

I can further muddy the waters here. I purchased a 1925 Dolnet alto saxophone that appeared to be rarely played and stored a long time out of Great Britain . A Super Dearman ivory colored mouthpiece was included with the purchase with some very old reeds. The mouthpiece is stamped very clearly made in England. Since the saxophone was made in France and the moutpiece made in England, a possible England-France connection seems to be reasonable. You might want to check some pictures of Series l and Series ll Dolnets also.

 

[JayeLID]

Hi SoDelft...how's the R&C alto ?

Indeed, the horn does bear some resemblence to a very early Dolnet as well, a series I, not II. But the keyguards don't match up.

Do you still have that Dolnet ?

Candyglass, is the G# key a "nailfile" (i.e. is it etched/scored so as to have texture as opposed to smooth and flat) ?

 

[SoDelft]

I really love my R&C alto. It is the horn I use for everyday. A professional muscian friend who has played alot of sax for the last 40 years liked the sound better than a SML that I had for a while. Actually I still do have the Dolnet and the only thing that keeps me from playing it more is the bottom thumbrest is so uncomfortable. I don't think we have a good handle on the
Dolnet serial numbers. My Dolnet has a serial number of 218_ _ makes it clearly a Series ll but the key guards are Series l . It has the colored pearls and is very heavy. It does really well with the Super Dearman mouthpiece and a # 3 Rigoletti gold reed or a Vandoren A3 Optimum mouthpiece that seems to be a universal mpc for older French saxophones.

 

[stitch]

I'm reasonably convinced my Dearman French-made Master Model tenor is a Pierret. Serial number is only 3 away from yours ...

 

[candyglass123]

Pierret IS a possibility, considering that swooping sorta bellbrace. Where precisely is the "France" stamp ?

Can you add a photo of the opposite side of the horn ? And maybe of the octave key also ???

Hi, here are a selection of photos, hope they help and thank you for all the information

 

[candyglass123]

[QUOTESince the saxophone was made in France and the moutpiece made in England, a possible England-France connection seems to be reasonable. You might want to check some pictures of Series l and Series ll Dolnets also.[/QUOTE]

Hi thank you for your input, i have checked out some images of a 1930's dolnet series 1 alto and there are a lot of similarities, such as the key guards and the octave key, this is a highly likely possibility.

 

[candyglass123]

STITCH that was the way i was leading, but having seen an early Dolnet i'm slighlty confused now. How old would you say yours was. also do have a picture for comparison??

 

[stitch]

STITCH that was the way i was leading, but having seen an early Dolnet i'm slighlty confused now. How old would you say yours was. also do have a picture for comparison??

No pictures to hand I'm afraid, but I'm pretty sure it's a Pierret as it is very similar to an older Pierret-stencilled Hessy's tenor I once owned. Yours is an exact twin for my Dearman. I think some of the Pierret signifiers are the arc G# touch, neck brace, neck octave guide, bell brace ... also the side F# guard is quite distinctive, and the style was carried on to later horns like the stencil Olds Parisian Ambassadors.

As to age, I've always kind of thought 30s, but without any real justification ... could be anything up to 60s perhaps ... or even beyond?