France · since 1849
Couesnon serial numbers
No chart exists — and the maker said so.
Couesnon of Paris answered the serial-number question plainly: there is no serial chart, and one widely misread '1900' stamp is a mould number hidden under a key. The archive carries that refusal and what can still be read from badges.
The numbering
- couesnon-no-chart
Saxophone
Codes, eras and engraving
couesnon-no-chart — about 1880-1980
There is no serial number chart extant for Couesnon. The number is also sometimes hidden: on the '1900' models the serial number sits under one of the keys. What remains as evidence is the engraved style and the badge text, plus the fact that Couesnon supplied stencils to other sellers.
Era only, at low confidence: with no chart and a partly concealed number, the honest answer for a Couesnon is the construction/engraving era, never a year.
Questions
Can this archive date Couesnon instruments from the serial number?
Not from the number — no public serial chart exists for this maker, and the archive does not guess dates.
Where is the serial number on a Couesnon instrument?
For Saxophones the common location is on the lower body tube near the neck receiver, or at the bell bow — lightly engraved, sometimes two numbers on one horn.
What if my Couesnon serial number is not found?
Recheck the characters exactly as marked, including any letters. Letter prefixes often belong to student or stencil lines. Some periods may not be covered yet — every refusal here says why.