Selmer Paris saxophones are the easiest expensive horns to date and the hardest to fake — because every Paris saxophone since 1922 shares one continuous serial sequence. The number does not say "Mark VI"; it says a year, and the year names the model.
The eras at a glance
- Modele 22 / Cigar Cutter (Modèle 26)
- 750 – ~12,000 · 1922–1929
- Tapereed / "New Largebore"
- ~12,000 – 15,000 · 1929–1935
- Balanced Action
- ~15,000 – 28,000 · 1935–1947
- Super Action (Super Balanced Action)
- ~28,000 – 55,200 · 1947–1954
- Mark VI
- 55,201 – ~220,000 · 1954–1974
- Mark VII
- ~220,000 – 268,000 · 1974–1980
- Super Action 80 / Series II / Series III
- 268,000 onwards · 1980–present
The two published tables
Two versions of the chart exist, and both are reproduced in this archive. The official Conn-Selmer legend table runs 1922–1992; Douglas Pipher's transcription (published by Selmer itself) extends the sequence to 2021 from the factory books. They disagree by a few hundred numbers in 43 of the years — the decoder shows the official reading first and the Pipher reading alongside. Neither is wrong: one reads the factory ledgers, the other the distributor's published rows.
Reading the horn, not just the number
The engraving and the stamps narrow the market and the assembly era. A Mark VI is a Mark VI whether it was finished for the American or the European market — the engraving style (US sunburst vs European scroll) and the stamp tell the finishing market apart, and Selmer's own history notes that all Mark VIs were built in Mantes-la-Ville, with American horns receiving their set-up in Elkhart. The "Made in USA" Mark VI is a myth this archive does not repeat.
What the number cannot do
The year from the chart is the year the number was allocated — assembly could slip into the next year, and completely rebuilt horns swap necks and bows freely. Collectors pay for originality and pad condition as much as for the year; a 1959 VI is worth wildly different money depending on whether it plays.