Buffet Crampon published a clarinet serial chart from 1885 to 1997, then stopped. The archive reproduces the collector compilations of that chart — with each block's confidence named — and adds the trap that fills clarinet forums: the student models that carry no Buffet numbers at all.
The main sequence
The main chart opens in 1885 with letter-suffixed numbers (1A–408A) and runs to serial 439,774 in 1997. The letters are part of the serial through the 1930s; after that the sequence is plain numeric. R13, RC and the other professional models all share this one sequence — there is no separate "R13 numbering".
The side sequences
Not everything Buffet sold follows the main chart. Harmony clarinets (the low and specialty voices) carry their own block; the E13 line has its own published windows; Buffet oboes follow the Lorée-era oboe practice; and there are even Buffet-stencilled saxophones from the pre-war era. The decoder keeps the sequences apart and the model hint box picks the right one — "harmony" or "E13" in the hint field does exactly that.
The E11 problem
Buffet's student clarinets — E11, E12, B10, B12 — were made by Schreiber in Germany, and they carry Schreiber numbers, not main-chart numbers. Reading an E11 serial against the Buffet chart is the single most common wrong answer in the niche. The archive refuses that reading and points to the Schreiber numbering instead.
Beyond 1997
The public chart ends at 439,774 (1997). Newer professional clarinets are dated by Buffet's service on request; the archive does not extrapolate beyond the last published row and says so on the result card.