How many F-mezzo saxophone did C.G. Conn actually make?

When it comes to the rare and collectible saxophones, people often like to know just how rare their particular instrument is. The most common question I get in this regard is in reference to C.G. Conn's F-saxophones (the F-mezzo and the Conn-O-Sax). 

For a long time I've made an educated guess, based on my own observations, that about 500 Conn F-mezzo saxophones were made. This is based on my selling records from 1995-2013. I've sold 24 Conn F-mezzos in this time frame but only retain the serial number records for about half of those. So, my sample size is fairly small at this time. I would like to use this article as a call out to anyone who owns (or can show me photographic proof of existence of) any Conn F-mezzo (or Conn-O-Sax) to report the serial numbers so we have larger sample size so as to make a more educated estimate as to F-mezzo production.

Please email me with any data regarding Conn F-mezzo by clicking here.

The logic I'm using to come up with 500 is as follows:

The Conn F-mezzo was made in three groups 213xxx, 216xxx and 219xxx, the majority of those being made in the 213xxx range and none of those earlier than 2136xx. I've also never seen an alto or tenor in the 2136xx-214000 range. Also, all of the 216xxx's that I've seen are in the 2160xx and all of the 219xxx's are in the 2193xx. From these observations, one can make the assumption that Conn made only F-mezzo saxophones (no altos, tenors, etc...) from 213600-213950 (that's 350) and then also from 216000-216100 (that's 100) and 219300-219400 (that's another 100). From this logic, we can extrapolate that ~550 F-mezzos were made. However, there were also a few Conn-O-Saxes that were being thrown in the mix in the 2193xx range.

So, please send in serial numbers for all F-mezzos that we can document and I'll keep the running tally going here.

Here's the list so far:

Conn F-mezzo serial numbers (original finish unless otherwise noted)

  • 213xxx: 213622 (silver), 213646 (relacquer), 213655 (gold plate), 213657 (relacq), 213681 (relacq), 213735 (silver), 213758 (silver), 213763 (silver/gold highlights), 213766 (silver), 213784 (silver), 213795 (silver), 213800 (gold), 213801 (lacquer), 213802 (silver), 213821 (nickel), 213826 (silver), 213841 (silver), 213845 (silver), 213855 (silver), 213904 (silver), 213927 (silver), 213942 (relacq), 213971 (silver)
  • 216xxx: 216005 (silver), 216026 (silver)
  • 219xxx: 219310 (silver), 219316 (lacquer), 219339 (relacq)


Conn-O-Sax serial numbers

  • 213xxx: 213995 (gold plate)
     
  • 219xxx: 219357 (silver/gold highlights), 219385 (relacq)
  • 224-225xxx: 224633 (lacquer), 224648 (lacquer), 224649 (silver/gold highlights), 224654 (original lacquer), 225943 (original lacquer)

sources:
Saxquest
Saxquest Museum
National Music Museum
Stohrer Music
Get A Sax
Charles Gray "The Saxophone Whisperer"
Simon Clarke
Marty Sarlette
Scott Granlund