Saxophone Forum


by toplesstang
(1 post)
16 years ago

Orpheum

I bought a gold plated alto sa

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  1. by connsaxman_jim
    (2336 posts)

    16 years ago

    Re: Orpheum

    Orpheum is not a name that I have heard of before, but I can make an educated guess as to what you have. Your sax is probably a German design similar to a Keilwerth or H. Couf. If you look at www.saxpics.com at the Keilwerth and Couf horns, I think you will see a resemblence, Your horn was made in East Germany. It was probably made sometime in the 1950's; probably sometime between 1949 and 1955. Depending on your age, perhaps you are not old enough to remember the famous "Iron Curtain" that existed between East and West Germany following WWII. East Germany was a Communist state created by the U.S.S.R, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet occupied sector of Germany which included the current German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony; claiming the eastern part of Berlin as its capital. East Germany existed from 1949 until 1990, when its states acceded to the adjacent capitalist and democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) which is the Germany that we know today. In 1955 the Republic was declared by the Soviet Union to be fully sovereign. My guess is that; considering the engraving, your horn was probably built sometime before 1955. I would assume the quality of this horn to be comparable to other German horns or the same era. It's definately an interesting sax, and probably has an interesting history too. I'd definately hang onto it. Jim

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