1938 SELMER Balanced Action Tenor Saxophone with engraving, short bell, 27xxx

This SELMER Balanced Action from 1938 with its dark, honey-colored lacquer and its beautiful, elaborate hand engraving really makes a statement! The lacquer was renewed at an earlier date and the craftsmanship is truly outstanding. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was redone at the SELMER factory in Mantes la Ville. The engraving is still perfectly preserved and that is a good thing, because it is a rare “Cottage at the Sea” engraving. In addition to floral motifs on bell and knee, the SELMER engravers of the time engraved a framed landscape motif in the middle of the bell. Each landscape engraving is different and this one shows a house (cottage) surrounded by fir trees on a hill by a lake on with a sailing boat. Mountains are depicted in the background.

The saxophone probably once belonged to “David Beckett”, who had his name engraved on it.

Although the neck is not the original, this Balanced Action sounds like Balanced Action. However, I must also say that the pads are quite old and the horn needs a general overhaul in its current condition to be able to produce a full range of sounds. The neck is a balanced-style “power neck”.

This 27xxx SELMER BA tenor saxophone is being sold in its current condition, i.e. not overhauled.