Antigua Winds Serial Number Chart

ModelStart #End #
VKS Modelsunknown(1900)unknown(1948)
Kohlert Modelsunknown(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.

The serial number is 32 085 which puts it at 1 92 7 according th is Holton serial number chart by researcher 1 1927'Revelation‘ alto SN# 28 Antigua Winds AS3220BQ - Black Nickel Finish - Case - Supplies - Alto Saxophone. Jenmam x title song I serial full episodes I vijay tv I Yaar kannan I full Story. Jenmam X - Tamil Short Film 2017. Jenmam X Full Episodes video songs. Guest - Kavitha. Writer Rajanarayanan, opens the episode with a quote and welcomes Kavitha, the day's guest. Kavitha talks about Munjenmam and is eager to know. Guest – Kavitha.

Lookup

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.

Antigua Winds Serial Number Chart 10

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.

Number

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.

Timeline

Antigua Winds Serial Number Chart Clarinet

  • 1840: The Kohlert Company was founded in Graslitz, Czechoslovakia by Vincenz Ferarius Kohlert2. However, he did not produce any saxophones.
  • 1900/01: V.F. Kohlert dies and the ownership of the Kohlert Company is transferred to his sons, Rudolf, Daniel and Franz 3 and the company's name is changed to 'V. Kohlert's Sohne'. Kohlert produces the first German-made saxophone around this time 4.
  • 1910-1916 (Approximately): Kohlert stencils saxophones for HN White (King) in the USA 5.
  • 1914-1925 (Approximately): Julius Keilwerth apprentices at the Kohlert company. It is arguable if Keilwerth influences Kohlert's designs more or vice versa 6.
  • 1938 (Approximately): Kohlert has become the largest German instrument maker, employing 600 craftsmen and producing an entire range of brass, woodwind and double-reed instruments 7 . Keilwerth is a distant second with 150 craftsmen and producing only saxophones.
  • 1939-1945 (Approximately): WWII. Kohlert produced relatively few instruments during this time, as production was limited by the conversion of most factories to producing war materiel and the Nazi original disgust of all things Western, especially jazz. There was some limited production and some horns produced during WWII are labeled 'Reich' and are quite elaborately engraved - with Nazi regalia.
  • 1945-1947: After WWII, the firm was 'nationalized' into the Amati cooperative 8 (Amati's website says the cooperative was founded in 1945 and was fully 'nationalized' by 1948 9 ) and the Kohlerts became workmen in their own factory, similar to what happened with the Keilwerth family. According to the Lein article, the Kohlert family was no longer even allowed to put their stamp on their instruments 10.

    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.

  • 1948: The 'last' generation of the Kohlerts migrated ('evacuated' would be more accurate, according to the Lein article) to West Germany: Max Kohlert, an instrument maker, died in 1949. Kurt Kohlert, a businessman, died in 1973. Ernst Kohlert, a musician, died in 1986 or '87. None of the three brothers ever married.

    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 .

  • 1948/49: About forty people were employed in the Winnenden factory. At first, they only repaired instruments, mainly for the American army 12 , but resumed instrument production began in the fall of 1949 with saxophones. A new serial number chart was instituted, starting at zero 13 and the 'V. Kohlert's S%uFFFDhne' mark was dropped in favor of just 'Kohlert'.

    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).

  • 1953/54: Kohlert employed around 100 people from 1953 to 1954, with about seventy working in the 'barracks' and another thirty working at home 14 . These 'home workers' had small shops in their homes and would receive the materials, complete their part of the assembly process and return them. Several craftsmen only made saxophone bodies and even the bells and necks were made in Winnenden [sic]. The Kohlerts also employed four tool-makers whose job it was to make the tools and apparati used in the factory according to the designs and needs of the instrument makers. Thus everything was done 'in house' with specially crafted tools 15 .
  • 1955-1965: The two remaining Kohlert brothers, Kurt and Ernst, entered into contracts with American wholesalers 16 which guaranteed that the Kohlerts would supply instruments at the same price for ten years 17 . What the brothers didn't foresee was the onset of the 'Deutsche Wirtschaftswunder,' or 'German economic miracle', when the materials costs and wages rose dramatically. At this point they couldn't get out of these long-term commitments -- the penalty for breach of contract was severe.

    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 .

  • 1966: About twenty employees continued producing instruments to meet bankruptcy obligations. Serial numbers stood at about 85,000 at the time of the bankruptcy.
  • 1967: Fritz Pfannenschwarz, an industrialist from Nordheim who was interested in music as a hobby, came to Kohlert to buy a bass clarinet and was told that nothing could be sold without consulting the administrator of the bankrupt estate. He asked the price of the bankrupt firm, was told 40,000 DM and subsequently bought it. Although plans had already been drawn for a new factory, nothing had come of them and work continued in the 'barracks'. Later Pfannenschwarz moved final assembly operations and sales to Nordheim, concentrating on flutes, saxophones and clarinets 19 .
  • 1977 (Approximately): The final line of Kohlert saxophones was discontinued and the final model name list was Popular, Regent, Star and Excelsior 20 . The best of these horns was and is considered to be fairly low quality.
  • 1981-1983: Albert Moosmann, once an apprentice in the firm, his son Bernd and another partner purchased the remains of Kohlert in Winnenden. Today the name 'Bernd Moosmann' appears on the bassoons, which is what Kohlert now specializes in 21
Antigua winds serial number chart for age on z950r free

Errata

Winds
  • 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.'

No Kohlert feature pages were found in the database.

Have an idea for a feature page? Let us know! You can send info to SaxPics@SaxPics.com.

If you believe this to be an error, please contact corrections@SaxPics.com. Thank you.

Antigua
BUESCHER
Serial#Year
50001905
112501910
251031915
612551920
1752751925
2552501930
2690001935
2910001940
3030001945
3320001950
3500001955
3600001960
3810001963
Bought out by Selmer
4088181965
5200001970
6300001975
7850001980
8750001983
SELMER (PARIS)
Serial#Year
100001929
120001930
Cigar Cutter
140001931
170001932
180001933
190001934
200001935
Balanced Action
220001936
240001937
250001938
270001939
300001940
330001947
Super Balanced Action
350001948
370001949
400001950
430001951
Low A Baritone
460001952
500001953
520001954
Mark VI
570001955
620001956
660001957
710001958
760001959
810001960
900001961
940001962
1030001963
1100001964
1200001965
1290001966
1370001967
1490001968
1600001969
1710001970
1820001971
1920001972
2040001973
2180001974
2310001975
Mark VII
2430001976
2560001977
2720001978
2820001979
3000001980
3273001981
Super Action 80
3402001982
3538001983
3664001984
3788001985
3910001986
Super Action 80 II
4060001987
CONN
Serial#Year
96001905
108001906
120001907
130001908
154001909
178001910
212001911
225001912
250001913
300001914
350001916
400001917
500001919
580001920
640001921
830001922
1017751923
1246001924
1454001925
1679001926
1934501927
2092501928
2246001929
2378001930
2447001931
2492301932
2565011933
2600001934
2635001935
2710001936
2780001937
2840001938
2850001939
2883001940
2952501941
3045001942
3092501943
3093001944
3102001945
3140001946
3200001947
3271501948
3321501949
3372501950
3418501951
3418511952
3547421953
3592511954
5000011955
5717501956
6520021957
7186261958
7796571959
8342001960
8985561961
9494651962
C005011963
C738541964
E541061965
H312471966
K352741967
L204541968
BUFFET
Serial#Year
29251952
31151953
33901954
37631955
42261956
48171957
53921958
61721959
68081960
74161961
86561962
96691963
100641964
117491965
127781966
137661967
144871968
153471969
163231970
173191971
184451972
197871973
214411974
226871975
244171976
261511977
272801978
287331979
301901980
315391981
329611982
339241983
346641984
357331985
KING
Serial#Year
50001915
780001925
1260001930
1610001935
2200001940
2750001945
3050001950
3400001955
3700001960
4065001965
4576001970
5117501975
MARTIN
Serial#Year
172211919
194821920
199331921
237811921
299421922
348381923
406441924
484891523421925
54853
678521628521926
172051
792541927
866871928
*19253610271929
*first digit dropped on most serial numbers
9832429821930
10162271191931
1050961932
1065461933
1083011934
107581112531935
145261165511936
153961180381937
188611269981938
205631320701939
232311360401940
245721401991941
266431444551942
1453221943
1944
1453521945
1542891946
1615201947
1653261948
1703951949
1722151950
172449 first Imperial
1751401951
416931793171952
45824 Indiana1831251953
49586 Indiana1876141954
1937471955
561621962131956
667192038091957
667272019171958
709882053771959
762242090891960
818852116751961
878502139991962
2188551963

Serial Number Idm

HOLTON
Serial#Year
11901
2541902
4761903
5261904
11511905
18721906
33451907
46301908
60711909
94741910
12,4021911
15,9501912
20,8071913
21,1001914
31,6221915
33,6711916
37,9091917
41,070 – 43,9721918
55,000 – 55,2491918
43,973 – 47,6001919
55,250 – 57,0401919
47,601 – 49,8171920
57,041 – 58,4991920
70,000 – 70,5491920
49,818 – 54,9991921
58,500 – 59,4991921
70,550 – 73,1991921
59,500 – 60,5991922
73,200 – 76,0991922
60,600 – 61,6491923
76,100 – 81,0001923
61,650 – 62,1991924
81,001 – 85,6001924
62,200 – 62,8991925
85,900 – 89,8491925
62,900 – 63,1491926
89,850 – 92,7991926
63,150 – 63,2991927
92,800 – 97,1991927
63,300 – 63,5491928
97,200 – 101,3991928
63,550 – 63,8491929
101,400 – 105,1991929
63,850 – 64,0491930
105,200 – 108,3991930
64,050 – 64,1491931
108,400 – 111,0491931
111,099 – 113,8991932
113,990 – 114,9991933
115,000 – 117,2991934
117,300 – 118,5991935
118,600 – 120,5991936
120,600 – 122,8991937
122,900 – 125,8491938
125,850 – 132,7991939
132,800 – 140,0991940
140,100 – 151,2991941
151,300 – 154,1991942
154,200 – 154,6991943
154,700 – 154,8991944
154,900 – 156,0991945
156,100 – 165,5991946
165,600 – 181,9991947
182,000 – 198,2991948
198,399 – 210,2991949
210,300 – 220,4991950
220,500 – 232,5991951
232,600 – 243,3491952
243,350 – 254,0991953
254,100 – 268,9991954
269,000 – 281,3991955
281,400 – 293,6991956
293,700 – 307,3991957
307,400 – 315,6991958
315,700 – 326,0991959
326,100 – 337,5991960
337,600 – 348,3991961
348,400 – 358,4991962
358,500 – 373,6991963
373,700 – 388,9491964
388,950 – 403,3501965
403,351 – 435,9991966
536,600 – 455,7491967
455,750 – 467,0991968
467,100 – 483,0991969
483,100 – 496,7991970
496,800 – 504,2001971
504,201 – 519,2991972
519,300 – 524,5991973
524,600 – 529,8991974
529,900 – 535,1991975
535,200 – 541,9991976
542,000 – 548,4291977
CLEVELAND
Serial#Year
11925
10,0001930
30,0001935
40,0001940
45,0001945
50,0001950
56,0001955
100,0001960
160,0001965
420,0001970
600,0001975
YANIGASAWASAXOPHONES
During the 1970′s, the 3rd and 4th digit of the serial number indicate the year of manufacture.1972 – 12729030
1973 – 12731254
1974 – 12745400
1975 – 12753382
1976 – 12764553
1977 – 12775790
1978 – 12781317
1979 – 12791801
1980 – 00102143
1981 – 00106981
1982 – 00111892
1983 – 00117142
1984 – 00122663
1985 – 00128485
1986 – 00134903
1987 – 00141658
1988 – 00148774
1989 – 00156006
1990 – 00162968
1991 – 00170073
1992 – 00177116
1993 – 00184318
1994 – 00189050
1995 – 00197400
1996 – 00205400
1997 – 00213000
1998 – 00219500
1999 – 00228250
2000 – 00235000
SML SAXOPHONES
Serial#Year
1? – 30001934 to 1940
3000 – 55001940 to 1945
5500 – 80001945 to 1950
8000 – 120001950 to 1955
12000 – 160001955 to 1960
16000 – 190001960 to 1965
19000 – 220001965 to 1970
22000 – 240001970 to 1975
24000 – 260001975 to 1980
26000 – >270001980 to 1982