![]() It was produced from 1954 through 1974, a twenty year run. We'll see in 10 years.The Selmer Mark VI is probably the most popular and also most costly vintage saxophone on the market. But any discontinued vintage Omega of limited run, be it the worst quartz movement production they ever made, increases in value. You may find counter-examples of some obscure brand that made a limited run of remarkable watches, the market will be too small for them. In the vintage watch market, you have Omega, Rolex, Patek. Any vintage camera with the Leica name on it, especially if it had a limited run, sees its value go up, no matter whether it was considered a particularly good model compared to the previous or next. In the camera world, Leica and Hasselblad. In electric guitars: Gibson and Fender, in acoustic folk guitars: Gibson and Martin. Plenty of examples of these "collector brands". You probably know the fate of the Porsche 914: underperforming, unloved when it came out, it has also gained recognition later because of scarcity of air-cooled engines. Let's take Porsche: the fate of the underpowered 912, the act that followed the 911: prices went up when Porsche discontinued air cooled engines. I would dare say there is a pattern in such markets, that can be compared across industries. Whatever your pick, I am not sure Hammerschmidt falls into this league. Also under your supervision I would submit contemporary brands as perhaps Selmer (the survivor brand), Yamaha, Yanagisawa, Keilwerth (?). 4 of these disappeared or were swallowed. For vintage saxes, correct me if I'm wrong, the big five would be perhaps: Selmer, Conn, Martin, Buescher, King. It's maybe unfair but it's an oligopolistic market. Some markets, like the saxophone market, are dominated by a handful (4 or 5, sometimes less) of "prestige" brands. The size of the market for the Hammerschmidt name is extremely small compared to the size of the demand market for Selmer. I had never heard of Hammerschmidt before this post, and as much as it points to my lack of knowledge of niche or obscure brands, this is kind of the point. The logic applies to dominant brands rather than very specialized ones. You can start a “ Pump & Dump” action if you harvest all of them, except that maybe nobody will ever buy them at inflated prices. On the other hand Francois Louis has made very few Silver mouthpieces and they are not about 3 times what they were of course that was nearly 40 years ago. Inderbinen must have made very few horns but did they appreciate over time? Hardly! I’ve never seen anyone fight over 36 or 54 and my opinion is that there is never going to be a run (which is good news because if you buy them all there is going to be more for you). Mark VI are very appreciated despite 200.000 of them being out there. To me this is even truer for items especially made for collectors such use the bird series, which never got a penny dearer that it was when they were made. There were only 500 or so Powell Silver Eagle made and I don’t think they are more “ collected” (I’d say bought) now that they ever were and I am sure that the initial $8,000 price is lower now. There were only 5000 Hammerschmidt ever made and nobody is rushing to collect them ( they are very nice). ![]() Small output without desirability doesn’t equate the coveting by anyone. I'm just an uninformed outsider looking in. Jazz enthusiasts just aren't playing the alto version, and classical enthusiasts are going to be drawn to the Supreme with its Serie IIIish ergonomics and tuning more similar to a Serie III.īut I'm sure Selmer understands the market and is making the wisest financial decision it can. I'm also surprised the Serie III wasn't the first alto to fall. I would much rather play a Mark VI or Reference tonally. I know I don't prefer it because it's too brilliant sounding for my tastes, the harmonic complexity is lacking to my ears, and the ergonomics still aren't as good as their major competitors, IMO. I don't know how well the Supreme is going to be embraced by jazz players. ![]() Referencing the past with an instrument still draws people's attention to what they are referencing, and the demand for Mark VI altos and tenors is still tremendous. ![]() The Reference, while an incredible sounding alto, is still just a reference to the Mark VI. Click to expand.This is to be expected, but I'm somewhat surprised it happened so quickly.
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